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.