Everton fell to a 2-0 defeat against Hull City this afternoon to see their losing run stretch to four games in the Premier League.
The Toffees were undone by two first-half goals at the KC Stadium as Ahmed Elmohamady and former player Nikica Jelavic secured the points for Steve Bruce's side.
Despite their efforts the visitors were unable to find a route into the game in the second half, with Antolin Alcaraz receiving a second yellow card late on to compound their misery and set Hull up for a winning start to the year.
Here, Sports Mole takes a close look back at the 90 minutes of action on Humberside.
Match statistics
HULL CITY
Shots: 11
On target: 5
Possession: 44%
Corners: 4
Fouls: 14
EVERTON
Shots: 8
On target: 3
Possession: 56%
Corners: 8
Fouls: 14
Was the result fair?
Having come into this game on the back of four defeats in their last five, Everton were expected to give it their all at the KC Stadium in search of the three points which would help them to turn around their fortunes in the bottom half of the Premier League table. What we had in the end, however, was a performance which sums up why the Toffees are where they are in the standings with over half of the season played.
Only one side in the division has conceded more goals than Roberto Martinez's men, while up the other end chances were few and far between even when Hull backed off in the second half. While the likes of Steven Naismith and Kevin Mirallas battled throughout, the overall performance was not nearly good enough to warrant a single point from this game, and the hosts were good value for their comfortable victory in the end.
Hull City's performance
The Tigers were extremely hard done by early on when referee Kevin Friend decided against awarding Abel Hernandez what looked to be a stonewall penalty. Rather than feeling sorry for themselves, City picked themselves up and found the net twice in the space of 10 minutes to seal a much-needed win - just their second in 13 outings.
Bruce talked in the build-up to this game about his side having to stick to the basics in order to return back to winning ways, and that is exactly what they did. Despite injury setbacks for Andrew Robertson and his replacement Liam Rosenior, the Tigers produced two simple attacks to score both of their goals, which leaves them sitting a little more comfortably in 15th place in the standings, just two points off today's opponents.
Everton's performance
Whichever way you look at it, things are really beginning to appear bleak for the Toffees at this moment in time. Four defeats in a row for the first time in a decade; five straight losses on the road; the division's second worst defensive record; the most mistakes (11) leading to a goal in the top flight; and the only side to lose all three of their festive fixtures in the Premier League. Everton are slowly sliding down the table, and it is a worrying drop in form that Martinez must quickly rectify.
It would be harsh to say that they were terrible this afternoon, having created a few decent opening across the 90 minutes which they were simply unable to finish. Their best team move came inside the opening 90 seconds when Muhamed Besic skipped past the challenge of Jelavic before feeding the ball to the disappointing Arouna Kone, who failed to make the most of the Blues' strong attacking position. The 3-5-2 formation with Gareth Barry slotting into the backline did not appear to work, and it is now a case of last season's fifth-placed side going back to the drawing board and starting again.
Sports Mole's man of the match
Abel Hernandez: He may not have scored this afternoon, but the summer signing from Palermo did just about everything else. He provided countless runs forward to create openings for his side, while also forcing Joel Robles into making a few firm stops. Goals will surely start flowing if he pushes on from this performance.
Biggest gaffe
The referee got the game's biggest decision incorrect when he awarded the home side a free kick rather than a penalty in the first half following a challenge on Hernandez inside the area. Even if the referee could not see that the contact was made inside the box, one of his officials surely could have, although in the end it did not matter too much as Hull went on to secure the three points.
Referee performance
It was not just that decision which Friend got incorrect, unfortunately, as he also failed to award Barkley a free kick when he was shoved off the ball by Elmohamady on the half-hour mark, as well as failing awarding Barry a second yellow card late on. Alcaraz's dismissal was also questionable, so all in all this was not the experienced official's finest afternoon.
What next?
Hull City: League action takes a backseat in the coming days as the FA Cup reaches its third-round stage. Hull travel to face Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium - the side that beat them in the final at Wembley just over seven months ago.
Everton: The Merseyside outfit will be hoping to return to winning ways as they host West Ham United in the famous cup competition.
Daniel Lewis
