The clock had just ticked past 70 minutes when Jack Grealish escaped the instructions of David Moyes and jogged on to the pitch, serenaded by insults from the Leeds fans and wrapped in the hope of Evertonians.
It was a last shot at inspiration for the visitors because, until that point, they had had none. They had been relentlessly outplayed by a clever, fluent, flowing Leeds side on a return to the Premier League that bodes well for their chances of survival this season.
Everton, by contrast, had been shorn of guile.