Everton end 133-year Goodison Park era on a high

When the schedule for the 2024/25 Premier League season was released 11 months ago, it was not the season opener or either Merseyside derby that was uppermost in Evertonian minds but the final ever fixture at Goodison Park.

Southampton were the opposition handed the honour of contesting the historic game that would draw the curtain down on almost 133 years of football at this iconic old ground. Of course, in the interim (and only very recently), the Grand Old Lady has been handed a new lease on her long life with the news that Everton Women will begin playing their games here from next season, but this match marked the end of an era, one soaked in history, pioneering advancement in the game, storied firsts, thrilling success, and a trove of memories down the generations.

The send-off was glorious and almost perfect. Under sunny skies, a fanbase that has reinforced in recent years its status as the best in the land, as it has dragged this once prestigious institution through three relegation battles and two last-ditch escapes to beat the drop into possible oblivion, packed the streets outside the stadium for one last blue-hued coach welcome.

Inside and for the majority of a match that was, in many ways, academic even while the result was all-important, almost 40,000 Evertonians sang, chanted and danced their way through their party to honour their adored home. Fittingly, the Toffeemen triumphed 2-0, ushering in the festivities that followed; perhaps all that was missing to make it the perfect day was a hat-trick for one of the stars of the season in Iliman Ndiaye or a goal in front of the famous Gwladys Street End.

David Moyes had impressed on his players that this was the most important game of the season and they responded, dominating the first half against a sea of blue and the sonic backdrop of almost ceaseless song and powering into a 2-0 lead by the interval.

It might have been more but Beto was denied goals by Aaron Ramsdale and then two disappointing but unarguable offside decisions while the Portuguese striker later missed narrowly with a header and James Garner was also foiled by the keeper.

Ultimately, though, against the Premier League’s bottom side, 2-0 proved more than enough and an unwanted treble of defeats to Saints in one season was comfortably avoided, thanks to more crowd-pleasing work by Jordan Pickford in the final half hour.

Everton had announced in the build-up to the game that three players — Ashley Young, Asmir Begovic and Joao Virginia — would be leaving the Club this summer, while Moyes used his pre-match press conference to confirm his intent to retain the services of Seamus Coleman. Abdoulaye Doucouré’s future remained unclear. 

Even though the final men’s senior game at Goodison was not, therefore intended to be the Irishman’s swan song, Coleman was named in the starting XI for the first time this season under the manager who signed him 16 years ago, along with the potentially departing Doucouré. However, as injury struck again early on and forced him off after just 17 minutes, this may well prove to be the veteran full-back’s last appearance after all. 

The Blues were already on their way to victory by the time Young had come on to make his own farewell outing as the skipper’s replacement. They had gone close in only the fourth minute when  Vitalii Mykolenko rattled a volley into the six-yard box that hit Beto and fell invitingly for him to swing his leg at but Ramsdale did well too push his close-range effort behind.

It was only a temporary stay for the visiting keeper, though, because two minutes later, Goodison erupted as Ndiaye put Everton ahead. The Senegalese had started the final phase of the attack with a lovely touch off Jarrad Branthwaite’s forward pass inside to his compatriot, Idrissa Gueye.

Dwight McNeil couldn’t retain it but a fortunate ricochet put Ndiaye back in possession and he accepted the gift gratefully by driving towards the box and stroking a placed effort around the last man and into the far corner of Ramsdale’s goal.

By the quarter-hour mark and wholly at odds with the miserable Carabao Cup tie here between the same two sides last September when Everton under Sean Dacha had struggled to have 25% of the ball, the hosts were enjoying a 60/40 advantage of possession.

And with 20 minutes gone, they almost doubled their lead when another smart lay-off, this time by Gueye to Ndiaye saw the latter slip the ball to Beto but the striker’s shot-cum-cross just eluded another blue shirt in front of goal before being ushered behind for a corner which Branthwaite headed into the side-netting at the far post.

In the 27th minute, when Pickford swept forward an ill-advised back-pass by Young, Beto chased down Ramsdale and blocked his intended pass to a team-mate but when his cut-back found Doucouré but Taylor Harwood Bellis blocked his attempt to turn the ball into the vacant net.

Still Everton probed for more goals, though. McNeil’s free-kick was headed back across goal by Jake O’Brien but Garner’s attempt to pass Doucouré’s lay-off into the goal was charged down. 

Then, twice in the space of three minutes, Beto had the ball in the net with fine finishes, only to have his desperation to mark Goodison’s goodbye with a goal left unrequited due to the offside flag: first when he fired home Garner’s pass with aplomb and then when he rose to guide home Young’s cross from the right flank.

The second goal did come a minute into stoppage time, however, thanks to more magic from Ndiaye. Once again McNeil was involved, albeit not quite in the way he would have hoped, as he appeared to be tackled before he could thread a pass through the defence for Ndiaye. The ball made its way into Ndiaye’s path anyway and with a clever feint he drew Ramsdale into an attempted tackle before collecting the rebound off his leg and slotting into the yawning goal to make it 2-0.

Whether it was because of the ongoing revelry in the stands, the feeling that perhaps they were coasting at 2-0 up, a more concerted effort by the hitherto toothless Saints after half-time or a combination of all three, Everton couldn’t quite match the intensity and drive they had shown over the first 45 minutes in the second period.

Their best chance of killing the contest and putting the icing on the cake came shortly before the hour mark when Beto, Doucouré and Mykokenko all combined neatly outside the box before the Ukrainian’s ball found Garner but Ramsdale parried his shot away.

The rebound was worked back out to Young who swept an almost perfect cross for Beto but the big Portuguese couldn’t keep his header down and it flew narrowly over.

He would make way for Dominic Calvert-Lewin, another player whose future remains very much up in the air, while a visibly emotional Doucouré was withdrawn in favor of Charly Alcaraz. Like McNeil, who was replaced not long afterwards by Jack Harrison, he had not had a good afternoon at all but the weight of knowing that might have been his last game here appeared to hit the former Watford man hard. 

Pickford was then called into his first serious action after Young’s awful back-pass had gifted Ross Stewart the ball and England’s No 1 would make an even better save in the 84th minute to deny the same player from a similar position with a reflex save with his foot before the substitute headed over late on. 

In between, Branthwaite had had to come off with an apparent hamstring injury but Everton’s goal was destined to remain unbreached on the day and after four minutes of stoppage time, referee Michael Oliver blew the last whistle to pierce the Goodison air during a first-team men’s fixture. The Toffees’ 1,538th victory on this much-loved hallowed Turf closed the last chapter.

Amid the parade of ex-Blues and stars of old onto the pitch afterwards, the current Everton squad had more than earned their lap of honour for manner in which they have responded under Moyes since January to haul themselves well clear of the drop zone and put themselves in a good position to finish 13th this season. The Club will finish with a record low number of home victories in a campaign but with hope the hearts of everyone that a corner can now be turned under the Friedkin Group.

The manager used his words, however, to set the stall out for the new era that awaits at Bramley-Moore Dock, one that will hopefully sweep away the frustration, pain and anguish that blighted Goodison's last few years and pave the way for this incredible football club to one day reclaim its rightful place among the elite.