Everybody left in pursuit of half a pair of footwear, having lost second (3,3,3)

'everybody' is the definition.
(one and all can mean all people)

'left in pursuit of half a pair of footwear having lost second' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'left' could be 'l' (common abbreviation) and 'l' is present in the answer.
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is located in the answer.
'a' could be 'an' and 'an' is found within the answer.
'lost' could be 'l' (abbreviation in sporting league tables) and 'l' is present in the answer.
'second' could be 'd' and 'd' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'nea' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?