Alex Iwobi’s 99th-minute goal earned Everton a massive victory in their fight against relegation as they held on to beat Newcastle despite being reduced to 10 men.

An average game, which was delayed by a protestor tying himself to a goalpost by his neck, came to life late on when Allan was sent off with seven minutes remaining for taking out Newcastle substitute Allan Saint-Maximin.

Referee Craig Pawson consulted the pitchside monitor and overturned his initial decision to book the Everton midfielder.

At that stage, and with 14 minutes of stoppage time to play because of the protest, hanging on for a draw looked like the best Frank Lampard’s side could achieve.

Yet in the ninth minute of additional time, substitute Dominic Calvert-Lewin led a breakaway and slipped Iwobi through before he found the bottom corner.

It led to wild celebrations at Goodison Park as Everton earned only their second win in 13 Premier League games to put three points between them and the relegation zone.

But, as Lampard and his players hugged each other in delight at the final whistle, it felt like a victory worth much more than that as they consigned Newcastle to a second consecutive defeat.