A 98th-minute volley from James Tarkowski earned Everton a share of the spoils in the final Merseyside derby at Goodison Park. After Alexis Mac Allister headed Liverpool level following Beto's early opener, it was left to Mohamed Salah to register a second, which looked like it was going to take the Premier League leaders nine points clear of Arsenal.

However, Tarkowski smashed home late and after a lengthy VAR check for offside and a potential push on Ibrahima Konate, the goal was given. The ECHO, of course, was there to run the rule over proceedings with our usual match-day mix of player ratings, post-game analysis and verdict from Goodison Park.

Our colleagues from the national media were also on hand to give their own considered takes. Here's how they viewed a remarkable night at Goodison Park.

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The Daily Mail's Oliver Holt writes: "They thought they had desecrated Goodison one last time but Everton refused to allow it to end like that. More than seven minutes into time added on, the ball looped up to Tarkowski, the Everton skipper, eight yards out.

"He struck the volley like he has never struck a volley before to make it 2-2. It was a finish Dixie Dean himself would have been proud of. And even if there was an agonising VAR check for offside, the goal stood and Everton celebrated anew.

"The game ended in mayhem when Doucoure celebrated in front of the Liverpool fans, Jones upbraided him and a mass fracas ensued. In the chaos, Doucoure, Jones and Liverpool boss Arne Slot were sent off. It felt like the old ground, which has always been a bear-pit at its best, could scarcely have had a better send-off.

"Liverpool’s lead at the top is seven points but this was Everton’s night. This was Goodison’s night. Its honour and its memory were preserved at the last."

Jonathan Liew, of The Guardian, pens: "Before the actual ending, and then the melee that followed the ending, there was the original ending. The studio cut. The official’s board goes up to indicate five minutes of injury time. Vitalii Mykolenko puts a cross straight out of play.

"Jarrad Branthwaite and Carlos Alcaraz run into each other and bang heads. Tim Iroegbunam smashes a shot into the Gwladys Street End, and almost into Gwladys Street itself. The Liverpool fans are singing about winning the league at Goodison Park. Quite a few people are leaving.

"And let’s be honest here: this would also have been a fitting way for the last Goodison Park derby to end. Certainly it would have felt truer to where Everton and Liverpool are right now, at the start of 2025, a park and an ocean between them. Everton make noises, run hard, crack their whips; Liverpool shoot them in the face. Before the game, the Opta supercomputer simulated this fixture 10,000 times and gave Liverpool a 60% chance of winning. As the clock ticks over to 97 minutes, the Opta supercomputer is doing victory laps of the office and taking high-fives.

"But then, as 2011’s Ashley Young hoists the ball forward, with time already on the verge of running out, a kind of madness seems to take over. A madness that seems to come from a different plane entirely, a madness of ley lines and dark secrets, a madness willed and manifested into being, a madness you can’t feed into a supercomputer.

"What’s the xG on a James Tarkowski volley, from an angle, under pressure, in the 98th minute, in the last Merseyside derby at Goodison Park? I don’t have a shot map or game-state model to hand. But I know it’s 1.00."

The Independent's Rich Jolly muses: "Perhaps Arne Slot should have heeded his own advice. The Dutchman had called for 'cool heads' in his first Merseyside derby. And so, in an explosive end to Liverpool’s last ever trip to Goodison Park, the last red cards given in this fixture, at this historic ground, went to the manager who seemed a byword for calmness and his assistant.

"What a way it was for Goodison to bid farewell to this fixture. Four red cards after the final whistle, a 98th-minute equaliser that came laced in quality as well as controversy and drama, this was a reminder of the danger of underestimating Evertonian defiance, an illustration this game can be happy and angry, unpredictable and spectacular.

"There was a pitch invasion and a melee, the latest goal on record in a Merseyside derby. There was James Tarkowski, a centre-back volleying in like a centre-forward, to upend everyone’s night. He will forever have the distinction of being the last scorer in a Goodison derby.

"It looked like being Mohamed Salah. That prospect may have made the Liverpool fans giddy. 'We won the league at Goodison Park,' they chorused, eyeing a nine-point lead at the division’s summit. Instead, it is a mere seven.

"They will probably win the league, but it was Everton who ended up revelling when Tarkowski conjured a magnificent equaliser, prompting fans to charge on to the pitch to mob the scorer. Everton had to endure a lengthy and nervous wait for a VAR check – scarcely a worry when Goodison hosted its first derby in 1894 – before the goal stood."

The Times' Paul Joyce's assessment reads: "To the very last kick of the very last Merseyside derby at Goodison Park, the drama remained unrelenting.

"Liverpool’s supporters had just cleared their throats, singing for the first time this season about winning the Premier League, when there would be a remarkable sting in the tail.

"Everton launched one last attack, Tim Iroegbunam flicked on and James Tarkowski of all people thundered home a volley at the back post to equalise and stifle those chants.

"There would be the inevitable delay as VAR checked for offside, and then a foul on Ibrahima Konate but the strike stood and with that the bluetouch paper was lit.

"At the final whistle, Abdoulaye Doucoure looked to celebrate in front of the visiting fans, something to which Curtis Jones took exception and a rumpus ensued. Both Jones and Doucoure were sent off, along with Liverpool head coach Arne Slot and his assistant manager Sipke Hulshoff.

"When the din eventually subsided, and the noise began to fade, the outcome will actually be seen as beneficial for both sides."

And writing in his ECHO analysis, Ian Doyle says: "Rarely can a draw have felt quite as much a defeat for Liverpool. But when the emotions begin to subside following a dramatic last Goodison derby, it would be foolish for the Reds to linger too long on the controversial finale.

"Mind you, after waving goodbye to their neighbours’ home 131 years after their first visit, it might be the same length of time again before the Reds fully accept what happened during the last minute.

"They will have two main gripes. There will be questions over the additional time period being extended by such a significant amount, even allowing for the pause in play following the clash between Charly Alcaraz and Jarrad Branthwaite. But the real poser was why Beto was not penalised for what appeared a push on Ibrahima Konate before James Tarkowski slammed home at the far post to seal a 2-2 draw."