For Goodison Park and a fanbase that has done something unique in the history of football these past fraught few weeks of rollercoaster emotions, this was the Last Chance Saloon. One last push of passion and energy, blue smoke and thunderous renditions from the Everton catalogue of chants.

A trip to Arsenal lay in wait on Sunday but Evertonians knew this was the last opportunity for one more collective trip to the well of emotion and devotion and to use the power of the Grand Old Lady and all her history to finally drag this club out of the mire and preserve its Premier League life.

For a third successive home game, fans lined the streets outside Goodison Park to usher the team coach towards the players' entrance and turn the air blue. By most accounts, it was the most vociferous welcome yet for Frank Lampard's team and the hope was that it would be enough to propel Everton to the three points that had eluded them at Watford and at Brentford in the preceding nine days.

By 8:30, the Old Lady was a murmuring shell as Evertonians contemplated a relegation battle going right to the wire at the Emirates, with all the uncertainty and danger that would entail. Everton were 2-0 down at half-time to Crystal Palace following a fairly dreadful first 45 minutes, with many of those lessons from a chastening season seemingly unheeded as a two-man midfield featuring the struggling André Gomes was overrun by Patrick Vieira's confident charges and the Toffees' infamous vulnerabilities at set-pieces were exploited by Jean-Philippe Mateta.

To add insult to injury, another one of those dangerous tackles that were supposed to have been outlawed by the Premier League failed to yield a red card for Jordan Ayew and the forward would pop up just two minutes after his ugly challenge on Anthony Gordon to bundle in a goal that was horribly reminiscent of Gary Ablett's almost comical own goal against Wimbledon 28 years ago.

But, just like that “That Game” in 1994, the Toffees, more Goodison Gang than Crazy Gang, refused to lie down and over 45 minutes that are now irrevocably woven into Goodison folklore, amid an atmosphere that somehow surpassed those that have stunned neutral observers in recent weeks, they dug down deep and pulled off a thrilling comeback victory. Win number 1,878 in England's top flight… as if it were written in the stars.

On rare occasion, thanks largely to the transformative introduction at half-time of Dele Alli and a decisive switch from 3-5-2 to 4-3-3, it was enterprising and smooth. More often it was scrappy and ugly; direct, uncompromising and uncultured football tailored to the desperation of the stakes. Mostly it was spirited, visceral and, by the end, pure Everton, as a classic diving headed goal scored by a No.9 in front of the Gwladys Street secured a quite remarkable 85th-minute winner.

This was a night that Dele, a largely forgotten January addition who has remained an enigma rather than undergo a renaissance after leaving Tottenham, and Calvert-Lewin, a player who has struggled to recapture anything close to his 2020-21 form, joined the ranks of the redeemed.

This was vintage Calvert-Lewin; all committed running, prodigious leaps, flick-ons and chest lay-offs before the decisive lunge to meet Demarai Gray's curling free-kick and bury a header past Jack Butland to spark pandemonium in a stadium that was rocking to its foundations.

Behind him for 90-plus minutes was a cast of tireless heroes, most prominent among them Richarlison and Michael Keane who had scored the goals to bring Everton back from the dead to 2-2, Alex Iwobi who never stopped from start to finish, and veteran captain Seamus Coleman who atoned for a first-half error to roll back the years to play a vital role in a game for the ages in L4.

And on the sidelines, Lampard got to reprise those fist-pumping, bulging-vein celebrations that marked his arrival at Everton but this time in the knowledge that he had completed the first part of the massive job he undertook back in January.

Everton had started in the frenetic and adrenaline-charged fashion that has characterised their performances recently under Frank Lampard while the visitors were playing the more measured passing football.

It was the hosts who almost drew first blood, though, after a quarter of an hour when Richarlison lined up a direct free-kick after a foul by Joachim Andersen and from 25 yards out the Brazilian clipped the top of the crossbar with a sweeping effort.

Five minutes later, though, it was 1-0 to Patrick Vieira's side and it came in all-too familiar circumstances for Everton's supporters. André Gomes was deemed to have fouled Jeffrey Schlupp on Palace's left flank and when Eberechi Eze swung the resulting free-kick into the box, Mateta easily got in front of his marker to plant a header past Jordan Pickford from a central position in front of goal.

Vitalii Mykolenko had a decent opportunity at the far post in front of the Park End when he arrived to meet Seamus Coleman's clipped cross but he couldn't steer his volley on target and Richarlison's tame effort was saved by Jack Butland before Ayew ignited howls of protest from the Goodison crowd with a horrible tackle on Gordon that only resulted in a yellow card.

And just two minutes later, the Ghanaian doubled Palace's lead amid calamitous defending from Everton. Pickford only parried Mateta's cross away from goal out to Wilfried Zaha and then got a hand to the Ivorian's bouncing first-time shot but the ball fell to Ayew's head and he bundled it over the line as Mykolenko desperately tried to keep it from going it.

Gomes had once again struggled in a midfield that was being overrun at times by Vieira's men but a chance opened up for him from 25 yards out only for him to slip as he pulled the trigger and Butland was able to gather comfortably. Richarlison then went close with the last chance of the half as his header looped narrowly wide before an edgy Goodison contemplated the ramifications for the relegation battle of Burnley's goal at Aston Villa in the 8 o' clock kick-off at Villa Park.

Lampard, meanwhile, had already made up his mind to make a decisive and much-needed change by sending Dele out to warm up during the break. The former Spurs man had made sporadic appearances up until now but his impact in the second half was seismic and it was the foul on him that led to Everton pulling a goal back in the 54th minute.

Mykolenko swung in a deep free-kick, Mason Holgate headed it back into the danger area where Michael Keane took a touch before guiding a lovely left-foot finish into the far corner of Butland's goal.

Demarai Gray replaced the willing but flagging Anthony Gordon to re-inject some pace and verve to the Toffees' attack but it was the visitors who temporarily regained the initiative in the contest and it required another match-winning contribution from Pickford to keep Everton in it.

Palace moved the ball swiftly through the lines from back to front and Eze played in Mateta for a clear chance at goal but Pickford had positioned himself superbly to bat the Frenchman's shot behind with a raised glove. From the corner, Schlupp eventually fired straight at the Everton keeper who parried and gathered the ball safely.

Everton regained their footing and after Mykolenko's cross had just eluded Calvert-Lewin, they levelled with 15 minutes of an increasingly bruising contest to go and it came not long after Vieira had introduced the Blues' chief tormentor from the reverse fixture at Selhurst Park.

Coleman turned inside his man and clipped the ball to the back post, Dele's cross-shot was kicked back to Richarlison and the Brazilian dug it out from under his feet before scooping it past Butland with the help of a slight deflection off a Palace leg.

And then, with five minutes of the regulation 90 to go, Everton completed their amazing recovery after Coleman was dragged down by Zaha, setting up a set-piece for Gray to line up on the Blues' right flank.

The winger arced his free-kick behind the Palace defence and Calvert-Lewin threw himself at the ball, powering a wonderful diving header home. Goodison erupted and a small, ill-advised invasion of the pitch by ecstatic fans ensured that stoppage would stretch beyond seven agonising minutes.

Everton hung on, though, as the home faithful cheered every throw-in and free-kick earned before referee Anthony Taylor blew his whistle and charged towards the tunnel as the stands emptied onto the pitch in unbridled joy at survival achieved.

As they did after the wins over Chelsea and Leicester, the celebrations went on long after the final whistle, only this time the Goodison pitch was a high-decibel mass of jubilant Evertonians; a chorus of relief and joy following an evening of high drama and true Blue spirit.

Police and stewards formed an arc around the dugouts within which the players stayed after they had been mobbed by fans, some held aloft on the shoulders of supporters. Arm-in-arm, they chanted along with the crowd from the Goodison hymn book and eventually Lampard made his way through bowels of the Main Stand to emerge triumphant in front of the Directors' Box to bask in adulation.

In his post-match interview, the manager once again struck all the right notes, acknowledging that while Everton haven't won anything, the celebrations by the fans were an out-pouring of emotion from a fanbase that has gone through a horrible year, looked square in the face relegation from the top flight for the first time in 68 years and emerged with their proud membership of the elite intact. And they'd done it all together.


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