Source: SKY_Sports
O'Neill - Draw was fair
// A bit of a hack but it works// The article snippet is wrapped onto a second line, even when #article-sub is emptyif( $("div#article-sub").children().length == 0 ) {$("div#article-sub").remove();} Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill was happy to come away with a point after falling behind against Everton at Goodison Park.[LNB] Diniyar Bilyaletdinov gave the Toffees the lead on the stroke of half-time but Villa hit back after the restart with a leveller from substitute John Carew.[LNB]Neither team managed to create a real goalscoring opportunity for the remainder of the game as the two teams played out a 1-1 draw.[LNB]After the match, O'Neill was quick to praise his side's response to going a goal down at the end of the first half.[LNB]"I'm obviously pleased, particularly (after) half-time, since we've just come in and found ourselves a goal behind in the game," he told Sky Sports.[LNB]Deserved"I think our second-half effort warranted and merited a point and we got that and I think it's probably, on reflection, a fair result."[LNB]Everton were reduced to 10 men late in the match Bilyaletdinov was sent off for a careless tackle on Stiliyan Petrov.[LNB]And just moments later the visitors were also a man down when Carlos Cuellar received his second yellow card after a challenge on Yakubu.[LNB]O'Neill was adamant that the referee Lee Probert made the correct decision when showing red to the Russian but did not believe his own player should have been given his marching orders.[LNB]"The referee got that absolutely right, it's a red card, he was right on the spot and he gave it," he said of the Bilyaletdinov red card.[LNB]Galling"What you don't want to do is start levelling things up after that and Carlos Cuellar clearly got the ball and, of course, he suffered the fate of the second yellow card."[LNB]Despite the fightback, the former Celtic boss was still disappointed his side went in to the break a goal down after their first-half performance.[LNB]"I think we coped reasonably well in the first half and so to concede in first-half stoppage time was particularly galling for us," he said.[LNB]"We got back into it in the second half, though, and for a while I thought we might well go on to win it. On reflection I think a draw is a fair result.[LNB]"It has never ever been an easy place to come, despite the fact that Everton are trying to eke out a victory at the moment - which they will get. They are as resilient as they come so I am pleased we got something out of the game."[LNB]
