Everton 1–2 Southampton
by James Nalton
at Goodison Park

EVERTON fans remained in Goodison Park for more than half an hour after the final whistle in protest against the club’s board.

It was a cold Saturday afternoon in the old stadium and another bitter defeat for the home side, but supporters still stayed behind to show their dissatisfaction and concern about the way the club is being run.

This latest defeat came at the hands of a Southampton side who had not won in the Premier League since October, eight games ago.

Their new manager Nathan Jones claimed his first league points having overseen four defeats since he took over, but his side were going into this game on the back of a morale-boosting EFL Cup win against Manchester City.

Southampton’s win puts them level on 15 points with Everton and West Ham — the trio occupying the Premier League’s relegation spots after 19 games.

For Everton, it was another afternoon of the kind of disappointment which has come to be expected among fans.

Midfielder Amadou Onana deservedly got his name on the scoresheet to open the scoring with his first for the club but Southampton came out a different team in the second half and took the game to Everton.

James Ward-Prowse hung around between midfield and attack for much of the game, even as Jones changed formation and got on the end of Che Adams’s knockdown for the equaliser.

There was an air of inevitability about the winner. Anthony Gordon fouled Adams in what would be a dangerous position for any free-kick taker, let alone one of Ward-Prowse’s abilities.

Ward-Prowse duly lifted the free-kick over the Everton wall past a watching Jordan Pickford.

Onana was the only player cheered off by Everton fans at the end of the game, but some of the discontent in the stands was aimed at other players as well as the board.

Many supporters remained inside the ground in the freezing cold until 5.30pm, around 40 minutes after the final whistle had gone, displaying banners in protest against a board with whom the blame for the mess in which Everton find themselves must now lie.