Everton 1-2 Lyon: Ashley Williams scores and sparks ugly brawl but Bertrand Traore has the last laugh as pressure piles on Ronald Koeman following defeat

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If Ronald Koeman is to take any solace from another miserable night it is this: Everton's players are still fighting for him — literally.

After losing to Lyon, Everton's hopes of reaching the Europa League's knockout phase are in tatters. After one point from a possible nine in Group E, even Koeman admits it is 'unlikely' they will qualify from this position.

Everton did, at least, go down swinging — physically and metaphorically. They finished with eight attackers, throwing all they had to get an equaliser, but the reality is they should have finished with 10 men after a melee exploded in the second half. 

Lyon striker Bertrand Traore sunk Everton with a clever sucker-punch goal 15 minutes from time that stunned Goodison

Nabil Fekir converted an early penalty for Lyon to pile the pressure on Everton in their Europa League Group E clash

Ashley Williams was lucky not to see red for his part in a brawl following a spat with Anthony Lopes that also saw fans involved

Everton fans in the Gwladys Street End also got involved that saw Williams being pulled away by an Everton official

Williams scored the equaliser that looked to have got Everton back into the game, heading home Gylfi Sigurdsson's free-kick

MATCH FACTS, RATINGS, MATCH ZONE AND TABLE

Everton (4-3-3): Pickford 6; Holgate 5.5, Keane 5, Williams 6, Martina 5; Davies 6, Schneiderlin 6 (Sigurdsson 57mins, 6): Vlasic 6, Klaassen 4 (Lookman 46mins, 5), Mirallas 5 (Ramirez 68mins, 5); Calvert-Lewin 5.

Subs: Stekelenburg (GK), Baines, Ramirez, Gueye, Sigurdsson, Besic.

Bookings: Lookman, Williams

Goals: Williams 69

Manager: Ronald Koeman 

Lyon (4-2-3-1): Lopes 7; Tete 6, Marcelo 7, Diakhaby 8, Marcal 7: Tousart 6, Aouar 7; Traore 6, Fekir 5 (Ferri 61mins 6), Depay 6.5 (Ndombele 88mins n/a); Maolida 7 (Cornet 70mins 6).

Subs: Gorgelin (GK), Yanga-Mbiwa, Rafael, Ferri, Owusu.

Bookings: Traore 

Goals: Fekir 6, Traore 75

Manager: Bruno Genesio 

Referee: Bas Nijhuis (Holland)

A look at Bertrand Traore's late winner from Sportsmail's excellent Match Zone service. More match facts, stats and graphics here

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It was unacceptable with Ashley Williams, who scored Everton's equaliser, short-circuiting, pushing over Lyon keeper Anthony Lopes and grappling with some of the French side's defenders.

If it was bad to see so many players lose control, worse followed. The actions of some imbeciles in the Gwladys Street stand shamed the reputation of a proud club. Be under no illusion that UEFA will be poring over video footage.

As players shoved and jostled in front of the advertising hoardings, a handful of fans tried to join in and punches were aimed at Lopes and Mouctar Diakhaby, one seemingly by a man carrying a child.

Lopes, to his immense credit, refused to pour oil on this fire.

'I don't think it is part of the English atmosphere to hit an away player,' he said. 'But it was like that. I am proud we were strong at 1-1. It was a very proud night for us.' 

Wayne Rooney sits alongside his son kai and Paul Stretford, his agent, after being left out of the squad against Lyon

Mason Holgate clumsily felled Fernando Marcal in the Everton box to concede the spot kick after just five minutes

Holgate's silly foul could not have been more obvious and referee Bas Nijhuis had no hesitation in pointing to the spot

Cuco Martina cannot hide his frustration as Everton find themselves under the cosh early on against their French visitors

Not so much for Everton. Shameful is the most appropriate word. It only takes the actions of a few idiots to ruin things for all and Everton's hierarchy will have recoiled when they see the images. What kind of man holding an infant does that?

The guilty parties will, absolutely, be punished. It left a horrible taste, ruining a frantic night of football, the end result doing nothing to help Koeman.

The manager, whose odds for the sack were shortened by bookmakers again, turned his anger on the performance of referee Bas Nijhuis for not adding enough stoppage time but it was smokescreen. He was most angry about basic mistakes.

Everton were flattened by goals either side of half-time by Nabil Fekir and Bertrand Traore and both should have been better avoided. They were, in reality, gifts, the kind of which a side of Lyon's class would never fail to accept.

October 19 has its own special place in Goodison history as in was on this day, in 2002, that Wayne Rooney announced himself to the wider world with a superlative goal against Arsenal but there was to be no re-enactment as Koeman gave him a break. 

Fekir was tasked with the spot kick and beat Jordan Pickford with a low effort into the bottom right-hand corner

The French international forward takes the congratulations of his Lyon team-mates after giving his side the lead at Everton

Midfielder Davy Klaassen was one of five changes to the Everton starting XI but was hauled off at half time

Youngster Dominic Calvert-Lewin finds himself crowded out by four Lyon defenders as he looked to get his side back into it

The man who needed a break more than anyone, though, was the manager. He has increasingly looked to be feeling the strain of this dreadful run and the one thing he needed was Everton to give themselves a platform by getting off to a solid start.

But for all that Goodison's storied lights were on, it felt like nobody was at home. The crowd was small and those who had turned up — including Manchester City Director of Football Txiki Begiristain and Mikel Arteta, their first-team coach — lacked optimism.

To Koeman's dismay, Everton conceded the first goal once again. It was the 10th time in 11 matches they have done that, a statistic that should have alarm bells clanging in the Dutchman's mind. It marks them out as being passive and weak.

This goal was avoidable but Nijhuis had no option but to award a penalty after Mason Holgate careered into Lyon left back Marcal — Koeman called the tackle 'stupid' — and Fekir compounded the error, drilling his spot kick past Jordan Pickford.

Standing on the touchline getting drenched by the pouring rain, Koeman looked bedraggled and the fear was Everton would follow suit. 

On the touchline, under-pressure boss Ronald Koeman cut a frustrated figure as his side fell behind early in the game

Fekir is fouled by a sliding Morgan Schneiderlin, from the resulting free-kick Memphis Depay's deflected effort hit the bar

Everton did come back into the game as the half wore on, Kevin Mirallas had a big chance to score but his effort was blocked

Depay had a huge chance to double the Lyon lead when he got in behind the Everton defence but wasted the one-on-one

The former Manchester United winger knew how big an opportunity it was after seeing Pickford make a crucial save

In fairness, Everton tried to scrap. Tom Davies, for one, refused to accept the situation; Nikola Vlasic persisted in showing for the ball, while Dominic Calvert-Lewin did his best to make the most of the limited service he received.

There are, however, too many of this squad who form is wretched, not least Davy Klaassen. It would be grossly unfair to pin Everton's troubles on him but, after arriving for £25million from Ajax, he has done nothing to say he is an upgrade on Ross Barkley.

He, ironically, came as close as anyone to getting Everton an equaliser — a 20 yard shot in the 40th minute had Lyon keeper Lopes plunging to his left to take decisive action — but they were always susceptible to being hit on the counterattack.

Lyon, really, should have been out of sight before the interval and Memphis Depay had two chances to do so; the first was a free-kick that Davies headed onto his own crossbar, the second was a woeful finish after he streaked past Williams.

'The performance in the first half was under the level — mistakes and players without confidence,' said Koeman. 'The second half was much better. We fought for everything and had some chances.'

Everton started the second half in bright fashion, with Calvert-Lewin watching on as Lopes punches away Holgate's cross

Ademola Lookman came on at half-time and immediately caused Lyon problems, forcing a smart stop from Lopes

The moment of controversy in the second half came after Williams shoved Lyon keeper Lopes, sending him into the hoardings

What followed saw Williams at the centre of an ugly ruck behind the goal involving most of the players on the pitch

The Lyon players swarmed in to defend their keeper as the red mist descended on Williams behind the goal

The improvement only came he made a half-time substitution — this was eighth time in 16 games he has done so, which infers he keeps picking the wrong team — and Ademola Lookman replaced the floundering Klaassen.

Rather than playing out from the back, Everton started hammering long balls forward and Lyon kept dropping deeper and deeper until the contest exploded in the 65th minute when Williams inexplicably pushed Lopes over.

Once order was restored after the mayhem, Williams smashed in a header from a Gylfi Sigurdsson free-kick and the Iceland international nearly put Everton in front when another set-piece drifted in and bounced off the woodwork.

Yet just when they needed a break, they were betrayed by another basic error, Williams stood square and substitute Maxwell Cornet fed Traore, who back-heeled past Pickford. Once again they were down. 

This time there was no coming back.

Minutes later Williams made a more positive impact, powerfully heading home a set-piece to draw his side level

Traore was to have the last laugh when his clever flick put the French visitors back in front with 15 minutes left in game

The Everton players look broken as the visitors celebrate going back in front late into the Europa League contest