Premier League - Young sinks Everton at death

Eurosport - Mon, 08 Dec 09:14:00 2008

Ashley Young grabbed his second of the game deep in injury time to give Aston Villa a 3-2 win over Everton in an amazing finale to the match at Goodison Park.

FOOTBALL Premier League Everton Aston Villa Young Laursen Agbonlahor - 0

Joleon Lescott thought he had won a point for Everton after netting his second of the game in the third minute of added time, but with the home fans still celebrating Villa broke to the other end and Young finished coolly to give the visitors all three points.

The game had started in a similarly dramatic manner, Steve Sidwell blasting Villa ahead with barely 30 seconds on the clock before Lescott brought Everton level for the first time with a close range finish on the half hour mark.

Young then capitalised on a terrible defensive error by Phil Jagielka to put Villa ahead for a second time on 54 minutes before the match was settled in thrilling fashion during an amazing finale.

The result sees Villa move up to fifth place while Everton, who were without their first choice attack line, remain in ninth.

Villa were handed the perfect start when Sidwell beat Tim Howard all ends up with a thunderous strike from James Milner's lay off. Clocked at a mere 31 seconds, it was the quickest Premier League goal of the season so far.

But Everton - roared on by the home crowd - responded well to the early setback and twice went close before Lescott eventually levelled things up after half an hour.

On 24 minutes, Tim Cahill ran onto Leon Osman's header through only to see his sweetly-struck first-time effort repelled by Brad Friedel and just moments later the big American denied Marouane Fellaini a headed goal.

Two minutes after that, the home crowd were brought to their feet in their appeals for a penalty, but referee Martin Atkinson ruled Milner's challenge on Victor Anichebe in the box to have been a fair one.

That decision was soon forgotten as Lescott proved he still has his scoring instinct despite having previously netted just one league goal this season, sticking out a leg to prod home Mikel Arteta's free-kick, which had been flicked on by Osman.

The goal gave the hosts even more confidence and they surged forward in search of a second before the half-time whistle sounded. Fellaini nearly found one with another header on 41 minutes which Carlos Cuellar was forced to head off the line.

The Belgian proved a constant threat in the air and he again used his height to good effect soon after the restart. The summer signing from Standard Liege was only denied a close range header by Friedel's trailing hand which diverted his effort onto the crossbar.

With the wind very much in Everton's sails and with the home side backed by such a passionate and vocal crowd it was difficult to see how Villa would emerge with anything from the game.

Phil Jagielka provided the answer on 54 minutes. The Everton defender, usually so dependable, suffered a rush of blood to the head and made a terribly ill-judged back pass towards Howard that gifted Young the opportunity to fire Villa into the lead for a second time.

The Villa winger did not need a second invitation and he gratefully collected Jagielka's pass before finishing coolly past a stunned Howard.

Again, Everton responded positively but another defensive misjudgement, again from Jagielka, nearly saw them come unstuck.

The stopper flew into a challenge only to see the ball rebound back in the path of Young, who was allowed to have another run in on goal. This time the starlet's indecision in front of goal cost him and the chance went begging.

As time ran out, Everton threw everything they had at the Villa goal and they were rewarded when Lescott hooked a volley past Freidel in the 93rd minute to send the home crowd into raptures.

But the feel good factor was to last exactly 15 seconds, as Villa kicked-off and launched a late, late attack which culminated in Gabriel Agbonlahor prodding the ball through for Young to run on to, beat his man with an explosion of pace and fire low past Howard.

Mike Hytner / Eurosport

Comment 9 - 28 of 28

Sort comments by: Most recent

  1. Awsome Villa.

    From alan, on Tue 9 Dec 3:42PM

  2. in 20years of supporting villa can i remember us­ scoring such a late winner, impressed after conceding­ such a late equaliser, top 5 finish at least-larson and­ young top class, up the villa!!

    From Stephen, on Mon 8 Dec 11:07AM

  3. Quality indeedee !! Up the Villa !!

    From Xi Ci, on Mon 8 Dec 10:24AM

  4. come on villa can go to top 4! see the quality villa­ has!

    From grizzlykeeper, on Mon 8 Dec 9:24AM

  5. OMG, --- Tallhub Co m --- which is a hot club for tall­ singles to find their romantic love. Come on and you­ can enjoy romantic love here.

    From luobopires03, on Mon 8 Dec 4:08AM

  6. Typical fickle Villa supporters! O'Neill gets a lot­ of praise because of this result but was slated after­ the debacles against Newcastle and Boro.

    The man­ knows exactly what he's doing and the team he's­ building (it's not complete yet!!) is coming­ together very nicely but I can see it being perhaps­ next year before they gel enough to be considered­ realistically to penetrate the Sky 4.

    Up the Villa!!

    From Spencer and Lynette, on Mon 8 Dec 3:33AM

  7. I like Villa, the players their have flair and quality,­ like Young showed. I am hoping that Villa can knock­ Arsenal out of the Top 4 this season.

    From quilava_ex, on Mon 8 Dec 2:31AM

  8. Dazmanutd : its people like u that give us United­ supporters a reputation of being idiots United dont­ need Agbonlahor or Young the same as Aston villa dont­ need to sell them as for there gamegoing to the next­ level at United thats also rubbish they seem to be­ progressing into decent players well enough where they­ are , getting regular games wich is more fruitful than­ being sat on the bench every other week at chelsea or­ UTD , And i look forward to seeing them as England­ regulars ! I think the job Martin o neil has done at­ villa is nothing short of being superb and think the­ way they play with an English core is an asset to the­ epl well done the villa !!

    From Eagle3777, on Sun 7 Dec 11:13PM

  9. What a game. After watching the one-sided ManU­ Sunderland match last night this was a gust of fresh­ air. Its end to end and edge of the seat stuff. Credit­ goes to both team. They are good advertisers of the­ EPL.

    From cokrowinoto, on Sun 7 Dec 10:43PM

  10. Great game! I'm disappointed tho bc im a huge­ Everton fan but i got to hand it to them, they did­ pretty well withiut their two top strikers!(Saha and­ Yakubu)

    From James B, on Sun 7 Dec 10:15PM

  11. oh, as an after thought, this is the Young who­ Eurosports journalists called 'a white­ elephant' last year (ie. a player who is all hype­ and no product)

    I like reminding them of that fact.

    From Mike S, on Sun 7 Dec 9:54PM

  12. Great game, especially after the Zilina disaster. But­ dazmanutd, I've got more chance of being the Pope­ than SAF has of landing both Young and Agbonlahor - it­ is not going to happen, you can keep Nani and your cash­ - go look elsewhere !

    From un_too_slow, on Sun 7 Dec 9:12PM

  13. if chelsea want young they're going to have to pay­ big, we just tied him up on a 4 year contract.

    From Mike S, on Sun 7 Dec 9:12PM

  14. Lets be honst villa where gifted 3 points by a poor­ jagielka which doesnt happen alot.
    I'd be­ devastated if i was moyes because brad friedel had an­ amzing game even though he conceded twice - could have­ been many more.
    Felliani's a fantasy football­ nightmare, loads of shots and wins every header bt has­ a nack of doing the dirty and recieving yellows.
    As a­ massive chelsea fan i pray scolari buys young because­ the guy is pure class, scores and creates goals, doesnt­ fouls, and doesnt cheat or rolla round like the­ arrogant ronaldo = a credit to english football and­ gives us english fans a good future!!

    From Chelsea smile, on Sun 7 Dec 8:59PM

  15. I did not see the match but was listening to it on­ BBC/WM and all they seemed to think was that Villa­ where a shambles. What a commentry team!

    From Roy, on Sun 7 Dec 8:05PM

  16. See what a good manager can do for a team, villa were­ nothingness till he took over, full respect to where­ that clubs heading...

    .

    From glenn, on Sun 7 Dec 7:50PM

  17. great game! well done villa!

    From ceko_tc, on Sun 7 Dec 6:58PM

  18. Great game. Superb preformance if we had two goals less­ it would still be a great match

    From alex.sonnyc, on Sun 7 Dec 6:49PM

  19. The game isn't over until the 90 minutes are up. ­ Or in this case the 94 minutes. Well done Villa.

    From Ace, on Sun 7 Dec 6:48PM

  20. Amazing game! Even Everton had more attacks but they­ wasted most of them. Villa had fewer attacks but they­ were beneficial! Great game! Fair Results!

    From Domistiic, on Sun 7 Dec 6:44PM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account