PARTY IN THE PARK
Doucoure hit sparks relief at Goodison
THE fireworks went off on the hour mark. It felt premature but Everton were already in party mode.
Abdoulaye Doucoure’s superb strike two minutes earlier lifted the Toffees out of the bottom three.
For the previous 40 minutes or so, they were going down. Leicester were winning against West Ham, everyone in Goodison knew it.
The early excitement had turned to tension. Fear gripped this grand old stadium.
Could this be the moment they finally went down for the first time since the 1950s? It felt like it as it was hard to see where a goal was coming from.
Then Doucoure rifled one home and it was like a valve had been released. The stadium erupted, the roar was probably heard for miles around.
The flares were lit, the fireworks flew up into the bright sky.
It was pure relief. It was chaos. Bournemouth had offered up resilience but it was finally broken.
It needed something special. Doucoure brought it.
Add this to the final-day survival bids of 1994 and 1998.
There would be more tension to come, of course. But maybe not the final-day drama the broadcasters may have craved.
Everton started the game as if it was the 90th minute, it was chaotic in the stands and on the pitch with balls being pumped forward with little thought.
The frustration and panic was epitomised by Amadou Onana thumping the ground in anger when Idrissa Gueye had a strike pushed over. It would have turned toxic quickly if Bournemouth took the lead but Marcos Senesi squeezed one wide.
News of Leicester’s lead had long filtered through as nerves grew and when Demarai Gray missed a good chance after the break then it felt like it might not be their day.
But Doucoure wrapped his right boot around a poor clearance from the Cherries from Gueye’s clipped ball in and they got the goal they needed. Conor Coady was needed to block Dominic Solanke as the game edged into the mammoth 10 minutes of added time.
Then Jordan Pickford pushed away a strike from Matias Vina.
Tackles flew in, clearances were made as nails were chewed and every kick out of play roared on. The
Cherries had hardly laid siege to the Everton goal but Leicester can’t fault them for a lack of effort when they had nothing to play for here.
When the PA called for no supporters to enter the pitch as the clock ticked down, it may have been one of the most futile pleas.
As the final whistle was finally sounded by Stuart Attwell, the noise was deafening and then the invasion began.
At first it was more relief, celebration and joy but then the realisation and outpouring sunk in of why the Toffees fans believe they were fighting for survival on the final day.
The chants of “sack the board” came. The board which still can’t attend games at Goodison because of the ill-feeling towards them.
Wherever they were watching, they could breathe a sigh of relief. Sean Dyche’s fifth win in charge of the Toffees was enough to guide them to safety.
For Dyche and Co this was job done for now. Just.