Southampton missed the opportunity to take a giant leap towards Premier League safety thanks to a late equaliser from Tom Davies.
Substitute Nathan Redmond 56th minute header had put the visitors on course for a crucial victory at Goodison Park, but Davies' injury-time winner saw Everton captialise on Miya Yoshida's sending off to claim a perhaps undeserved share of the spoils.
Here are four things we learned from the game at Goodison Park.
Allardyce unable to unite Evertonians
Sam Allardyce and Everton have never been a natural fit.
What has quickly become evident, even for those who deemed the former England manager's appointment a necessary evil following poor results on the pitch, is the extent to which considerable frustration has started to set in on the terraces as he has been unable progress Everton stylistically.
This was again apparent on Saturday, as supporters circulated flyers in the build-up calling for protests before, during and after the game. What followed was not wholehearted protest, rather the same mix of passive-aggressive anger and accepting apathy that has been apparent for months.
Instead, as their team toiled, a fight involving two fans in the Main Stand and boos at half-time gave further weight to the anti-Allardyce movement. This, in many ways, is a club seriously at odds with itself.
Of course, not all of the ire has been directed solely at Allardyce; nor is Everton's current predicament entirely of his making. But the obvious point to make is that if the 63-year-old cannot win supporters round following a sustained run of improved form, then he will never be able to do so. Comments in midweek about winning 'the hearts and minds' of Evertonian smacked of Trump levels of delusion and spin.
Results, clearly, are only part of the story for the blue half of Merseyside and their manager - certainly in the manner they are currently being achieved.
It meant that there was a curious atmosphere at Goodison for the final home game of 2017-18. Adorning next season's strip, Everton have symbolically started to turn attentions to next season. The home faithful, too, are already far more concerned about what happens over the summer.
Few, in truth, want the increasingly unpopular Allardyce to be part of that future.
Manager's potential Goodison farewell ends with a whimper
If this was indeed Allardyce's Goodison farewell, then he went out with a whimper instead of a bang.
Even the final home game of the campaign and a full house could not rouse the hosts into action.
Sure, the Blues are now left with little to play for - safety has been secured and eighth seems the extent of their ambitions- but once again this felt like an opportunity missed for the Everton manager to prove he has more to his locker than dull, attritional football.
Those who have questioned why Blues supporters are so vehemently against Allardyce now have their answer. The picture that is being painted with regards to the future seems thoroughly drab.
Not only did his side struggle to string more than two or three passes together during a dour opening period, but they only mustered one solitary shot on target. Lone striker Cenk Tosun, meanwhile, spent long spells without support or service in a home game against genuine relegation contenders.
The response? Defender Ramiro Funes Mori replacing the admittedly out of sorts Yannick Bolasie at half-time.
Contrary to the narrative being peddled by the veteran in recent weeks, this was not a performance that showed the players have Allardyce's back. Nor was it a sustainable way forward tactically. This was Everton's season in a microcosm. Dull, lifeless and low on quality.
Something has to change at L4 over the summer - and it may well start with the manager.
Southampton still in with fighting chance thanks to Redmond
For about 89 minutes, imprecision reigned supreme for both sides at Goodison.
Indeed, there was a sense that if Everton were already on the beach, visitors Southampton seemed unlikely to muster the quality necessary to capitalise.
This was their chance of putting valuable points on the board in the relegation battle, yet for large swathes of the game, composure and skill were in short supply. It has been this lack of coherence and threat that has put a squad not short of talent well and truly in the mire.
The introduction of Nathan Redmond, however, changed all of that. For the first time in the game, Saints had a player capable of taking on a slow Everton rearguard and turning promising positions into genuine moments of danger. His header for the opener was the type of clinical finishing they had lacked up to that point, even if the same could equally be said for Cedric Soares' superb cross too.
More than that, though, Redmond gave his side fresh impetus in a clash that looked to be heading for stalemate. How they could have done with this kind of display earlier in the season.
This could well prove to be the highlight in a disappointing personal campaign for the winger - and also end up saving his club's skin - despite the late heartbreak.
