Everton suffered back-to-back comeback defeats to Bournemouth.
Iliman Ndiaye broke the deadlock just minutes before half-time with a coolly taken penalty after Jarrad Branthwaite had been bundled over by Rayan.
But the visitors struck back in the second half courtesy as Rayan redeemed himself by meeting Adrien Truffert’s cross to the far post with a bullet header.
Barely three minutes later, the Cherries had seized the advantage courtesy of Amine Adli meeting James Hill’s flick on in the area with a diving header.
The Blues faced a further uphill battle as Jake O’Brien received a straight red card for obstructing Adli as the forward attempted to launch a breakaway.
David Moyes’ side missed the chance to move up to sixth in the Premier League table and are now seven points off a Europa League position.
Here were the key talking points from Hill Dickinson Stadium:
Meetings with Bournemouth have brought out the best and worst of Everton.
From goal feasts and dramatic relegation escapes to second-half capitulations, visits from the South Coast outfit often delivers in extremes.
The latter was on display in Tuesday’s Premier League encounter as eight minutes of madness derailed an otherwise dominant display by the Blues.
Until then, the Cherries had been decidedly second best and should have been punished further as the hosts sought to build on their first-half lead.
David Moyes’ side still harbour ambitions of European qualification but the manager himself has already cautioned about the boxes they need to tick.
Winning unfancied fixtures in the run-in was the Scot’s assertion of the task at hand but victories at Hill Dickinson Stadium are now becoming as imperative.
An improved away record is offset by an inability to get points on the board by the banks of the Mersey, where they have won just four times in the league.
This was not the first time Everton allowed maximum points to slip through their grasp at home this term and this capitulation was an all-too-familiar tale.
Vitalii Mykolenko is yet to face any credible opposition as Everton’s left-back.
For all the plaudits around Adam Aznou’s cameo in the FA Cup third round exit to Sunderland, the Ukraine international’s place remains untouchable.
That lack of rivalry, however, has led to stagnation during his four years as an unrivalled automatic starter who retained the trust of three different managers.
Mykolenko is not simply a poor fit in Moyes’ back line but a liability, as evidenced his ball watching which gifted the visitors their equaliser.
He had already been living dangerously with a trip on Rayan inside the penalty area going unpunished by the match officials during the first half.
In attack, too, the 26-year-old continues to fall short despite an assist in last weekend’s win over Fulham giving the illusion he is a genuine creative outlet.
His deliveries again left a lot to be desired before being hooked in favour of Michael Keane, sent on as a Hail Mary attacking option in the closing stages.
Even before his contract expires this summer, it’s time Everton moved on from Mykolenko.
There was something very revealing about Moyes’ post-match reaction.
In the bowels of Bramley-Moore Dock, the Everton manager cut a very subdued figure and batted away questions with barely audible responses.
His predominantly reserved utterances still told their own story when asked about two potential flashpoints from his side’s speedy second-half surrender.
Bournemouth’s winner was clouded in controversy as Amine Adli’s header contained an offside infraction in Enes Unal’s positioning for the free kick.
But Moyes refused to contest the decision by VAR not to send referee Andy Madley to the monitor to scrutnise the potential breach before the restart.
He also offered up little resistance on Jack O’Brien’s red card for denying Adli a goal-scoring opportunity, insisting he had ‘no opinion on referees any more’.
It is rare for the 62-year-old to retreat when his team has been wronged, as his impassioned defence after celebrating a late leveller at Brighton attests.e
Instead, his silence about the latest contentious calls to befall Everton spoke volumes while also sparing him a potential misconduct charge in the process.