Everton exited the Carabao Cup’s third round at home to Southampton.

Abdoulaye Doucoure opened the scoring midway through the first half as he glanced home from a recycled Dwight McNeil corner in front of the Park End.

But the Blues’ lead lasted barely 12 minutes as Taylor Harwood-Bellis headed home an equaliser unchallenged from Charlie Taylor’s left-sided free kick.

With the score level at full time, Sean Dyche’s side were taken to a penalty shootout which was settled by Ashley Young’s missed kick in sudden death.

Here were the key talking points from Goodison Park:

Blues’ subs prove costly again

For consecutive home games, Everton fell into a familiar trap.

Bournemouth’s improbable comeback before the international break was pinpointed to Sean Dyche’s substitutions with his side in a two-goal lead.

The same score line might have eluded his side in this Carabao Cup third round encounter against Southampton but the outcome was still eerily similar.

Shortly after the hour mark, Dyche opted to mix things up by substituting an ineffectual Beto in favour of Ashley Young’s experience and defensive solidity.

An indignant response from the Goodison crowd spoke more to the manner of the change rather than the personnel as a chorus of boos soon rang out.

Young’s 31-minute cameo failed to instil fresh impetus for the Blues as their visitors belied a similarly dismal start to the season by overpowering them.

When the tie boiled down to a penalty shootout, it felt inevitable that the ignominy of missing a vital spot kick would fall to the veteran utility man.

Only surrendering another two-goal cushion could be more predictable.

Dyche’s biggest test goes on

Pressure will invariably mount on Dyche after the latest setback in another chaotic start to the campaign but it also hints at something of a wider issue.

Beyond seeing a first potential avenue to silverware closed off for yet another year, the Everton manager remains incapable of inspiring resolve at home.

Remarkably, more than 18 months in, Dyche has yet to win any game at Goodison in all competitions during which his side’s goal was breached.

Of the 36 outings in the Grand Old Lady’s dugout, he has won just 14 and all of them coinciding with its hosts recording a clean sheet in the process.

To put that statistical anomaly into further context, he has racked up five victories on the road after seeing his side concede at least once.

Southampton’s visit offered a perfect opportunity to right that particular wrong yet his charges spurned numerous gilt-edged chances to fully punish them.

Resilience is clearly lacking in the ranks at Goodison but an inability to win without the aid of a shutout is proving to be one of Dyche’s biggest tests.

Lindstrom wastes his moment

Owing to a spate of injury issues, Dyche was forced to mix things up a little.

He deployed Dwight McNeil as an unorthodox left-back while also handing starts to two academy graduates in Roman Dixon and Harrison Armstrong.

Jesper Lindstrom, similarly, was handed a starting berth on the right flank in lieu of Jack Harrison, experiencing a rare demotion to the substitutes’ bench.

Such chances have proved to be fleeting for the Denmark international since arriving in the blue half of Merseyside on a season-long loan from Napoli.

A rare spell in the spotlight, however, was not seized upon and could not have panned out much worse as Lindstrom’s profligacy got the better of him.

On three separate occasions, the winger found himself in perfect goal scoring positions but fluffed his lines each time to offer the Saints an unlikely reprieve.

Even when he did hit the target in the shootout, it required a huge slice of good fortune as the ball bobbled in off Alex McCarthy’s righthand post.

This was Lindstrom’s time to finally shine but he emphatically wasted it.