The defining image of the night will be Michael Keane grasping Tolu Arokodare’s braids, but in the end it was David Moyes who was tearing his hair out.

The Everton manager had seen his team reduced to 10 men after the centre-back was sent off for violent conduct following that incident, then nine when Jack Grealish also saw red for letting frustration get the better of him.

A squad already hugely depleted by injury will now be without two influential starters for Saturday’s FA Cup tie against Sunderland. Keane will also miss the games against Aston Villa and Leeds United.

Moyes, who was booked for protesting against Keane’s red, was still fuming long after the final whistle.

He was angry at the Stockley Park officials who sent referee Thomas Kirk to the monitor to review the Keane challenge. Furious too that anyone could think the defender had deliberately yanked the striker’s hair. But maybe also frustrated that ostensibly winnable home fixtures against Brentford and bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton Wanderers have yielded just one point.

And as much as he was angered by what he called a “ridiculous” red card, the Scot may also be irked that it came in the context of separate self-inflicted wounds.

One needs only to cast their mind back to November’s win over Manchester United for Everton’s other bizarre red card. That night, Idrissa Gueye got his marching orders for striking Keane in the face as the two argued on the pitch.

While the narrative of that contest ended positively as Everton dug in for a rare victory at Old Trafford, there was a sting in the tail. Gueye was missed in the following game, a morale-sapping 4-1 thumping by Newcastle United at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Or when Jake O’Brien inexplicably handled the ball to give Arsenal a decisive penalty and all three points last month.

Then, in the 90th minute of this draw against a Wolves team that Everton could not finish off in a dominant first half, Grealish snapped. He sarcastically applauded Kirk for awarding him a free kick, and the official quickly flourished a yellow card that followed a booking three minutes earlier for dissent over the Keane flashpoint.

It was Grealish’s first Premier League dismissal. Like Keane, who is not the type of gnarly, dark-arts centre-back you could imagine deliberately grabbing an opponent’s hair, it was out of character.

Jack Grealish sarcastically applauds referee Thomas Kirk (Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images)

But despite all the debate over the injustice of officiating against Everton this season — incorrectly denied a penalty themselves against Arsenal, or then Kirk somehow deeming Hwang Hee-chan’s dangerous challenge on Harrison Armstrong as only meriting a yellow — they are not helping themselves.

After the final whistle on Wednesday, James Tarkowski was locked in an animated conversation with Arokodare, while the fans booed. The Everton captain later said that the Nigeria striker told him he had not been asking for a red card, just a foul. Violent conduct, according to the Premier League website, includes when players “make a clear action to pull the hair of an opponent or any other person with force”. The degree of force used by Keane is subjective, but if Arokodere was being honest with Tarkowski, then he did not consider it overly aggressive.

How Kirk can assess the force of that moment is unclear. But when the more experienced and senior VAR man Chris Kavanagh told him to watch it again, the outcome seemed inevitable.

“It is not violent, it is not forceful and it is not deliberate,” said Moyes afterwards.

He went on to compare it to a previous red in 2024 for Southampton’s Jack Stephens after he pulled the hair of Chelsea’s Marc Cucurella. “Cucurella got his hair pulled — violent conduct, a deliberate action, no problem with that,” he added.

“But this was in the game, on a ball coming up, and unless you have played the game, you might not understand. I have been a centre-half, and there is no way I am jumping to outjump a big centre-forward and think: ‘By the way, I am going to outjump him and at the same time I am going to pull his hair.’”

Still, for all that, it could have been worse. With nine men, the hosts were thankful for Jordan Pickford when he made a stunning save to deny Hugo Bueno a winner.

So when tempers have calmed, Everton must also examine why they only had the slim comfort of a one-goal advantage at half-time, despite having the best of that opening period.

“Not great,” was Moyes’ assessment of the game before it became a chaotic exercise of holding onto a point. “I wasn’t exactly happy with it. We were a wee bit unlucky not to be 2-0 at half-time but Wolves was never going to be an easy game.”

Had Keane’s glancing header been an inch the other way on 30 minutes, Everton would have been celebrating his second of the night. The visitors might have wilted. Instead, it crashed onto the post, and soon after, Jose Sa saved a James Garner effort.

But then — and stop me if you’ve heard this one before — there followed moments when they needed to be far more decisive in the opposition area. In one, Armstrong carried the ball forward, evaded two tackles and swapped passes with Grealish. When the teenager sent a dangerous ball across goal, though, the player closest to it, Tim Iroegbunam, was not quick enough to capitalise.

It will not be easy to dwell on the positives given the disappointment, but Everton’s midfield worked better in a rejigged 4-3-3.

Iroegbunam may lack finesse with his final ball but he excels at getting the team up the field and is an effective ball-winner. His long-term chances of becoming a regular will require improvement in attack, especially in contrast with the missing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, but at least he managed an assist for Keane’s opener.

Then there was Armstrong. At 18, he is a mature and composed performer who looks to have developed during his time on loan at Preston North End in the Championship.

Grealish seemed to click with him. After one mazy run from Armstrong, the pair shared another quick one-two before the teenager pirouetted and fired in a shot that Sa could only parry. Wolves hacked the ball clear as he followed up the rebound.

Alas, they will not be able to build on that rapport on Saturday. Grealish will miss what could be a definitive fixture in Everton’s season, and Moyes will have the headache of shuffling his defence again.

Add to that finding a way for his under-strength team to improve in the final third and the manager has his hands full. Everton must contend with the consequences of self-inflicted wounds, VAR pain and a weakened squad.

They know they cannot rely on officiating in their favour, luck with injuries or significant transfer reinforcements. So the challenge is to channel all that frustration into an FA Cup third-round win and stop January turning sour.