Everton injected life into their Premier League survival bid as a first-half blitz at high-flying Brighton secured a shock 5-1 victory on the south coast
Having won just once in their previous 11 league games, the visitors needed just 33 seconds to break the deadlock through Abdoulaye Doucoure's close-range finish
The excellent Doucoure doubled Everton's lead with a controlled volley from Dwight McNeil's 29th-minute cross before Jason Steele miscalculated a cutback from the former Burnley winger to divert the ball into his own net in the 35th minute
Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi made four changes at the interval and the hosts hit the woodwork on two occasions before McNeil deservedly capped a fine performance with a goal of his own to sucker-punch the Seagulls in the 76th minute
Alexis Mac Allister was on hand to score a consolation for the hosts after Kaoru Mitoma's initial effort rebounded back off the post
 With virtually the final kick, McNeil was unleashed by Amadou Onana with his angled finish high into the roof of the net completing a stunning away performance
The result moves Everton from 19th up to 16th in the table ahead of Nottingham Forest's home clash with Southampton later on Monday, two points outside of the relegation zone
"No, I'm not sure [I saw it coming] myself in terms of the scoreline," said Everton boss Sean Dyche
 "But I saw the performance because I saw it at Leicester
"The scoreline is a big one, for any team particularly on the road
 There's been a lot of noise over the past couple of years about Everton's away form but we've been improving the mentality
"A couple have got away from us but there have been stronger performances away from home, committed performances
 Tonight paid us back after a very good performance at Leicester
"Brighton remain in seventh place - the Europa Conference League spot - a point above Aston Villa in eighth with two games in hand, but this result checked dreams of gatecrashing the Champions League equation
Long after the final whistle, the 4,000 travelling supporters were unmoved, almost in shock at what they had witnessed
 This has been a long and wretched season, a repeat of 12 months ago, but without the talisman Richarlison, they had looked doomed
Until now
 A first win on the road since early October at Southampton has breathed spirit back into the Blues
 Everton scored five goals in a Premier League away game for the first time since December 2018 - a 5-1 win at Dyche's Burnley - with this also their biggest margin of victory on the road since then
Writing in his programme notes, De Zerbi alluded to how fatigue would be "inevitable" during Brighton's hectic backlog of fixtures
But it is far easier to handle tiredness when the team is winning, and certainly in the manner the roof came off the Amex Stadium four days ago courtesy of Mac Allister's 99th-minute winner against Manchester United
 A 99 on the south coast; it must be holiday season
Brighton are readying their passports, but this was a thoroughly unexpected roadblock
 On Monday, they were presented with a very different challenge in keeping their European aspirations on track
 This was their third successive home game, having dismantled Wolves 6-0 at the end of last month - but they fell behind inside 33 seconds
Lewis Dunk was rolled with ease by Dominic Calvert-Lewin before the striker picked out Doucoure for a close-range finish, his shot shovelled beyond Steele
 Everton had only scored 12 away league goals, but Doucoure doubled his account on 29 minutes to cap a fine counter-attack
Calvert-Lewin was again involved as he combined with McNeil down the left channel, and the winger's deep cross was volleyed past Steele by the rampant Doucoure
Six minutes later, it was 3-0 as the ball bounced off the back of Steele's leg and in for an own goal from McNeil's cross
Jordan Pickford had not been tested in spite of Brighton's possessional dominance, and Everton might have extended their lead on the stroke of half-time when James Garner's shot was brilliantly blocked by Dunk
De Zerbi made a quadruple change at the break as Levi Colwill, Solly March, Julio Enciso and Evan Ferguson were all summoned
 Brighton immediately responded as March shot straight at Pickford
 Ferguson then rose - albeit judged from an offside position - to force England's No 1 into a superb one-handed save onto the post
 It would have gone to VAR
Yerry Mina, on his first appearance under Dyche January and first start since January, blocked heroically from March's curling shot
 Ferguson's next attempt was tipped over by Pickford via the crossbar, with the ensuing set-piece flicked onto the woodwork by Mac Allister
Everton's goal was leading a charmed life but Brighton were undone once more on the counter as Iwobi found the underlapping run of McNeil following a poor attempted pass by March
 As McNeil rounded Steele to tap in on the line, March had pulled up holding his hamstring
De Zerbi said afterwards: "I don't know
 We are in a very tough period with regards injuries, but I don't want to speak about this because anyway we are ready, and we could still win games
 Solly didn't play in the first XI for a problem
"Brighton would immediately respond through Mac Allister, but it was fitting that McNeil would have the final say with the pick of the bunch, gliding onto Onana's pass before unleashing an unerring strike, postage stamp, beyond Steele
"Of course, we can lose the game
 We can lose against Everton
 I was disappointed with the first half because it showed we're not ready yet to compete for the big target
 It's not easy because playing the last period, three games in a week is difficult if you're not used to playing so many games
"But if we want to improve and fix our target higher, we have not forgotten the victory against Manchester United
"With big teams, the biggest quality is to forget when you win
 You have to be ready to play every game, every day and today we arrived at the stadium late
 In the second half [in other words, they didn't get started]
"Sunday we will show our quality and we'll be back playing in our style
 You will see the true Brighton
 Against Manchester United and today, we saw two different teams
 The problem is mentality
"I hope we can remember this date for a long time because today we can improve a lot
 We can improve in football what you did in the past
 It is not important, it doesn't count [towards the future]
"We are Brighton - we have won against Manchester United, against Arsenal [in the Carabao Cup] and against Chelsea, not because there is a top coach or players
 It is because we have courage, energy and passion
 I'm sure we will show this again and for a long time
""When you get your tactics right, everyone lauds you
 When you get it wrong, it might still be the right tactics but the players haven't performed
 They have tonight, they've taken it on
"We've done some work with them, they were very open-minded to it and they've gone and delivered it
 That's really pleasing as that's the whole point of coaching and the whole point of managing
 The players deserve a lot of credit as they've taken it on with aplomb
"People will be out there thinking there is life in this team
 We've never lost sight of that
 The work ethic, the commitment to the cause, the connectivity of the group is really important as I've always felt there is quality