Sat on the floor deep in conversation with Bournemouth’s Jefferson Lerma, Yerry Mina’s work as an Everton player was done.
On the other side of the corridor sat Amadou Onana on Facetime. This was the scene inside the Everton tunnel just minutes after the Blues' crucial Premier League win over Bournemouth on Sunday afternoon.
Abdoulaye Doucoure’s fierce strike gave Everton a 1-0 win that sent Leeds United and Leicester City down, although for a while Sean Dyche's side were in the drop zone as the Foxes led West Ham United.
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Following Everton’s dramatic comeback victory over Crystal Palace last year, the club’s players and staff certainly let their hair down. As soon as referee Anthony Taylor blew his whistle for full-time, Goodison erupted as supporters made their way onto the pitch.
Plenty of Everton’s players celebrated with fans, while Frank Lampard could be seen hugging some in the Main Stand and dancing on top of the private boxes - and those celebrations continued in the Blues' dressing room. Ashley Cole was right in the middle of the celebrations, spraying booze all over the place.
But fast forward just over 12 months, and the scene could not have been any more different. Apart from the pitch invasion, which was nowhere near the scale of the one that followed after Palace, most supporters inside Goodison were in no mood to celebrate.
Most, instead, were just relieved that their club had avoided relegation to the Sky Bet Championship and were now looking forward to resting safe in the knowledge that Goodison will once again be playing host to Premier League football next season.
And that mood seemed to move into their side’s dressing room. There were no celebrations, and there was certainly no champagne spraying like 12 months ago.
Everton’s players instead went about their post-match business as normal, only with a smile on their faces. Jordan Pickford, James Tarkowski, Conor Coady, and Abdoulaye Doucoure were the men on media duty for the various outlets in attendance.
Director of Football Kevin Thelwell made his way to the Everton dressing room as players from both sides started to emerge after their post-match debriefs. Thelwell is a regular visitor to his team’s dressing room after home games.
Mina, fresh from his chat with Lerma, enjoyed a joke and a handshake with match referee Stuart Attwell before gathering his family for some final pictures at Goodison. The defender also had a number of warm embraces with club staff as he said his goodbyes before heading home.
For several players, it was just like any other game. Dwight McNeil and James Garner, who have both been superb in recent weeks, simply headed down the Goodison tunnel to head to their cars as if it were just another day at the office. Garner headed home with a black bin bag tucked under his arm.
Sean Dyche, just under an hour after the full-time whistle had sounded, returned to his side’s dressing room after conducting his post-match interviews. But by the time he did so, most of his players were already either getting ready to leave or had already left.
Some of Everton’s players also took the chance to enjoy some time on the Goodison pitch with their families. Speaking after the game, Dyche was brutally honest in assessing the scale of the task facing the club if it is to move forward.
He said: "It's a horrible day for all concerned; there is no joy in it for me other than getting the job done: loads of work, trying to compact so much change in such a relatively short period – particularly with injuries and suspensions, contracts, and all the stuff going on here, the underlying bigger news of Everton, which since I've been here has been more or less negative about everything, so that I've had to try to change, and that's been difficult.
"But the positive side is we got the job done; the players played their part without doubt. I came in here to change a mentality, and I think there have been signs of that. There is still more to go.
"I said to the players: 'We shouldn't be here. Enjoy this today, and you've earned it, but at the end of the day, it has got to change.’
"There is no point in sitting on it and saying: 'Look how great we are,' because it is not like that. There is loads to change here and a lot of work to be done, but it was a big step to secure it."
This really wasn’t a time for celebration, and the actions of Everton's players and staff spoke volumes. It could not have been more different from what occurred 12 months ago.
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