Slideshow

O'Neill's Legacy

Martin O'Neill arrived at Aston Villa in August 2006 as part of former Chairman, Doug Ellis's final act in charge before the sale of the club to American millionaire, Randy Lerner.

His most successful buys into the club arguably came on the same day in January 2008, where Watford's Ashley Young was purchased for £9.75m and John Carew arrived in a swap deal for Milan Baros.

O'Neill's biggest win came in April 2008 when arch rivals Birmingham City succumbed to a 5-1 defeat at Villa Park, Carew scoring two.

This was one of many successful wins over the 2007-08 season that saw Villa finish sixth in the Premiership, earning an Intertoto qualification place as a result.

Gareth Barry's form as Villa captain saw his rise to the England ranks where he became a regular under Steve McClaren and now, Fabio Capello.

O'Neill spent most of this summer convincing his star midfielder to stay at the club, setting an £18m asking price to Liverpool, who Barry claimed he was "desperate" to join.

Barry ended up staying with the Villains, for now anyway, and played a crucial role in the team's opening UEFA cup group game against Dutch giants Ajax.

Barry scored the winner in front of an electric Villa Park to defeat Ajax 2-1 and set the tone for what will hopefully be a successful UEFA cup campaign.


Sunday, 7 December 2008

Everton 2-3 Aston Villa - GET IN.

What a game.

Ashley Young's last gasp goal proved the decider in a game that swung back and forth between two of the oldest teams in English football.

Steve Sidwell had given Villa a 34 second lead, driving a 71 mph screamer past Tim Howard after neat link up play with Luke Young and James Milner.

Everton reacted well and dominated the rest of the half, getting their reward when Joleon Lescott turned in a Mikel Arteta free kick after a flick on by Victor Anichebe.

The second half was much of the same, with Villa looking to catch the hosts on the break. Then a disastrous backpass from Phi Jagielka set free Ashley Young, who shot past Howard to restore Villa's lead.

Everton pressed hard for an equaliser, and with three minutes of stoppage time on the clock thought they'd saved a point when Lescott got his second with an acrobatic overhead kick past a static Brad Friedel.

Amazingly from the restart, Gareth Barry fed Ashley Young who weaved through Lescott and with seconds left got his second of the game with a placed finish past Howard.

UNBELIEVABLE.

Villa now sit fifth in the Premiership, one point behind Arsenal in fourth.
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3 comments:

  1. Anonymous7 December 2008 at 12:44

    I think that was the best Villa game I have ever seen, even I jumped out my seat to cheer the winner, what was I doing. Although Ashley Young is a legend and deserved my cheer!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Shaun Staff8 December 2008 at 03:24

    I love that we have to write blogs about this result, when in reality, words cannot describe what happened at Goodison last night!

    ReplyDelete
  3. PompeyJourno8 December 2008 at 04:25

    I think Pompey need a touch of the Villa luck - glad to see you beat the Toffees - good piece

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