From the second Nathan Redmond opened the scoring at Goodison Park it looked as though Southampton were on course for a vital victory in their battle to ensure Premier League status for another year, only for a cruel twist of fate to rob them of all three points.
The 'Saints' went into the game knowing that victory would relegate West Brom and move them out of the relegation zone, but they were unable to hold onto their lead in a game that lacked quality at Goodison Park.
The home side briefly threatened early on as Yannick Bolasie nodded tamely at Alex McCarthy, before Cenk Tosun flicked a header onto the roof of the net.
Southampton then responded, with Charlie Austin and Oriel Romeu both seeing fierce drives parried away by Jordan Pickford, but that was it for the action in what was largely a tepid opening 45.
Both sides made changes at the break in an attempt to inject some element of quality and urgency into the clash and it was Nathan Redmond who had the desired effect as he headed Southampton ahead just 10 minutes after his introduction.
Cedric Soares got around his man on the overlap down the right and sent in a wonderful cross to the far post, leaving Redmond the simple take of nodding through the legs of Pickford to give Southampton a precious lead.
From then on Mark Hughes' men were content to try and pick their opponents off on the counter, safe in the knowledge that they had created little all game.
However, they were dealt a huge blow with five minutes to go as centre-back Maya Yoshida was given his marching orders for a second bookable offence after bringing down Oumar Niasse and in the dying moments of the game Everton took full advantage of their extra man.
Despite the four minutes signalled by the fourth official long since having elapsed, Ryan Bertrand desperately attempted to prevent conceding a throw near the corner flag, managing only to present the ball back to the 'Blues'.
The ball was worked to Tom Davies on the edge of the box and as he tried his luck first time, a huge deflection of Wesley Hoedt took his effort beyond McCarthy to earn Everton a share of the spoils, much to the delight of West Brom fans everywhere.
The result leaves Everton 8th on 49 points, whilst Southampton move 17th on goal difference ahead of their huge game with Swansea on Tuesday night.