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Carew salvages point for Villa in thriller against Toffees

27/04/2008

John Carew equalised four minutes from time to give Aston Villa a 2-2 draw against Everton at Goodison Park.

In the battle between fifth and sixth place, Agbonlahor's 11th goal of the season in the 80th minute had cancelled out Phil Neville's deflected strike.

Joseph Yobo thought he had snatched victory for the home side with a volley on 84 minutes, but two minutes later Carew headed in to salvage a point.

The result keeps the Merseysiders three points clear of Villa in the race for the final Uefa Cup spot.

Leon Osman returned from a hip injury for the Toffees but Mikel Arteta was on the bench, while Villa were unchanged from the side that thumped Birmingham City 5-1 last Sunday.

In a bright opening, both sides carved out chances with Gary Barry flashing a shot wide for the visitors while Yakubu fired a shot off-target.

The Nigerian striker continued to be a handful and outmuscled Nigel Reo-Coker on 19 minutes before unleashing a drive that Scott Carson palmed away.

Ten minutes later, winger Ashley Young fashioned the best chance of the half when his free-kick from the edge of the box rattled the crossbar.

In driving rain, David Moyes' side exploded out of the blocks in the second half and were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty when Lee Carsley's long-range piledriver struck Stiliyan Petrov on the arm.

The home side's possession was rewarded on 56 minutes when Yakubu cut the ball back for Phil Neville and his shot took a huge deflection of Laursen and wrong-footed Carson to make it 1-0.

Villa came agonisingly close to a quick equaliser when John Carew's header across goal was blocked by Joleon Lescott.

In a pulsating final 20 minutes, Steven Pienaar nearly caught Carson out with a dipping cross that the goalkeeper tipped over the crossbar.

Villa brought on Patrick Berger and Marlon Harewood for the closing stages to try and snatch an equaliser.

The changes galvanised the visitors and they equalised on 80 minutes when Agbonlahor nipped ahead of his marker to nod in Barry's corner.

Moyes' own substitution also worked as Arteta passed to Carsley, whose pinpoint cross was hammered in by Yobo at the far post on 84 minutes to make it 2-1.

But some shambolic defending cost Everton two minutes later when Barry was allowed acres of space to cross in for Carew to head the ball past Tim Howard.

In stoppage time, Petrov cleared Yobo's header off the line as Villa held on for a point.