*An injury-time own-goal from Phil Jagielka salvaged a point for Aston Villa after a pair of Tim Cahill headers seemed set to defeat the hosts.*

Cahill found space in the six-yard box to nod in Leighton Baines’ cross after Diniyar Bilyaletdinov had gone close.

Gabriel Agbonlahor’s glancing header restored parity for little more than a minute before Cahill struck again.

But Jagielka, under pressure from John Carew, headed into his own net to hand Villa a share of the points.

It is a result that may not suit either side with Villa’s faint hopes of Champions League qualification all but extinguished and Everton’s drive toward the Europa League spots losing momentum.

Jagielka’s return to the Everton starting line-up after a serious knee had coincided with a six-game unbeaten run, and his side, fresh from 10 days’ rest, looked the form team in the opening exchanges.

Leon Osman’s feint created some space on the edge of the box before his shot was snuffed out by a crowd of defenders.

But Tim Howard was the first keeper called into serious action as he plunged to his near post to keep out a James Milner effort following good work from Carlos Cuellar and Agbonlahor.

His opposite number Brad Friedel had his palms warmed by a solid strike from Osman and the American was beaten from the following corner when Bilyaletdinov snapped a shot past the keeper.

But the Russian was denied by Ashley Young’s midriff as the winger stood firm on the near post.

However, there was no reprieve when Stephen Warnock fouled Osman out on the right flank.

A bustling Cahill lost Richard Dunne in the six-yard box and guided Baines’s free-kick past a rooted Friedel without the need of a jump.

Villa should have been level when Carew eased aside Jagielka but the Norwegian slashed his finish wastefully into the side netting.

Villa’s pressure came close to forcing a breakthrough just before the break as Milner’s floated cross to the far post invited Cuellar to restore parity but the right-back’s downward header was pushed aside by Howard.

Carew’s power up front had looked the likeliest route to success for Villa with Sylvain Distin and Jagielka struggling to dispossess the targetman, but it was his strike partner who levelled with a deft flick from Milner’s pinpoint cross.

Osman almost immediately had a chance to put Everton back in front as he scampered in behind the Villa back line, but Dunne and Warnock came sliding across.

Their courageous cover proved in vain, however, as Cahill again was afforded too much space from Bilyaletdinov’s corner and planted a header past Friedel.

Everton, whose lengthy injury list looks likely to grow after Johnny Heitinga limped off, had looked more likely to extend their lead than be pegged back.

But the presence of Carew was enough to distract Jagielka under a swirling centre from Ashley Young and the ball deflected in off the England international and squirmed past Howard.

Phil Neville’s low shot then came within inches of landing a dramatic sucker-punch deep into injury-time, but strayed wide of Freidel’s post.

*Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill:*

“Maybe a point did not suit either team in terms of our respective aspirations, Everton in terms of European football and ourselves in terms of something higher.

“I would say we have to win the whole lot from here. It is not impossible but it will be tough. We will just give it all that we can.”

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*The Guardian*
Wednesday, 14 April 2010

*Late clanger from Everton’s Phil Jagielka lets Aston Villa off the hook*

An evening that started with Aston Villa hoping to keep alive their faint hopes of playing in the Champions League next season ended with Martin O’Neill’s players clinging on to European qualification of any description. Phil Jagielka’s own-goal in injury-time denied Everton only their second league win on this ground in 22 attempts and allowed Villa to maintain a healthy, and perhaps crucial, four-point gap over David Moyes’ side in the race for the final Europa League place.

It is difficult to believe Villa’s ambitions stretch beyond that competition now, after a result that leaves them seven points behind Manchester City with five games remaining. The deficit would have been greater still if, in the first minute of added time, Ashley Young had not delivered a centre from the left that Jagielka glanced towards the bottom corner of his own net under severe pressure from John Carew. Tim Howard, who had made a couple of excellent saves in the first half, got a good hand to the ball but was unable to keep it out.

Everton were crestfallen. They had taken the lead twice through Tim Cahill headers and there was a sense they had weathered Villa’s late pressure, which saw plenty of balls flung into their penalty area but Howard rarely called upon to make a save. Even after Jagielka’s faux pas, Everton might have restored their advantage but, after Leighton Baines flighted the ball towards the back post, the unmarked Phil Neville fizzed an angled drive inches wide of an upright.

O’Neill later claimed that Villa “certainly deserved a point” and also stated his belief that a top-four finish could still be achieved. “I thought before the game that to give ourselves a proper chance we would have to win every one of the matches, which was a tall order,” he said. “After tonight, to give ourselves any chance, we would have to win all five. It’s not impossible but it will be tough. We will got to Portsmouth on Sunday and give it everything.”

No one could question Villa’s effort or determination here, which was epitomised by the indefatigable James Milner, but for all the possession they enjoyed in the second half Everton were rarely carved open. Indeed Villa’s best opportunities came during a much more evenly contested first half, when Howard produced two superb stops to keep out a sweeping first-time effort from Milner and, three minutes before the interval, a downward header from Carlos Cuéllar.

Everton, however, were already a goal to the good at that point. Cahill gave his marker, Richard Dunne, a slight nudge before tearing towards the edge of the six-yard box, where he met Baines’s free-kick with a powerful header that left Brad Friedel hopelessly exposed. It was the fourth time Everton had threatened to score in the early stages of an absorbing and entertaining game.

Milner was the outstanding individual on show and it was no surprise that the England international created Villa’s first equaliser. His cross from the right picked out the unmarked Gabriel Agbonlahor, whose glancing header drifted beyond Howard for his 15th goal of the season. Everton’s response, however, was emphatic and within two minutes Cahill had struck again, the Australian doing what he does best as he found space to head Diniyar Bilyaletdinov’s corner past Friedel. “We defended very poorly tonight,” lamented O’Neill.

Fortunately for the Villa manager there was a late reprieve, when Howard could only push Jagielka’s header inside the far post. “I’ve seen it on a still and, when the ball is crossed in, Carew is offside to start with,” said Moyes. “But it would have been a hard one for the referee. And I thought it was hard on the goalie because he made a couple of fabulous saves in the first half to keep us in the game at times. He’s disappointed he didn’t get the second one but his performance was magnificent.”