O'Neill sees Champions League slip away

15 April 2010 06:30
Martin O'Neill admits Aston Villa now face a tall order to qualify for the Champions League after being held to a 2-2 home draw by Everton.[LNB] Villa created a host of first-half chances on Wednesday night but needed a late own goal from Everton defender Phil Jagielka to earn them a share of the spoils.[LNB]It means they have now drawn six of their past seven matches at Villa Park and their hopes of a top-four finish are now hanging by a slender thread.[LNB]The result also did no favours to Everton in their bid to claim a Europa League spot.[LNB]O'Neill said: "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.[LNB]"I thought before the game to give ourselves a proper chance (of Champions League football) we have to win all six remaining games.[LNB]"Now 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."[LNB]O'Neill felt the least his team deserved was a point with Gabriel Agbonlahor's 50th Villa goal and Jagielka's helping hand cancelling out two goals from Tim Cahill.[LNB]He said: "It was a great spectacle from start to finish. We deserved the equaliser at the end.[LNB]"We should have been in front at half time. We had to chase the game all evening.[LNB]"We got our first equaliser and then conceded another poor goal from our viewpoint but we again came back."[LNB]Everton boss David Moyes was in a similar mood to O'Neill in refusing to write off his side's Europa League hopes even though they still trailed Villa by four points and have played a game more.[LNB]He said: "We will keep going. We will keep trying. Europe is important and we will keep fighting to try and get in there.[LNB]"When you consider where we were in October, the players have done a great job and we have lost only two of 20 matches.[LNB]"It is a bit galling that the last three matches have been draws and we could have done with an extra point or two.[LNB]"I thought we were going to get over the line against Villa but we didn't quite manage it.[LNB]"At 2-1 up, we had a couple of great chances to seal the game and didn't take them."[LNB]Moyes felt Villa striker John Carew was offside immediately before Jagielka turned Ashley Young's cross past his own keeper Tim Howard.[LNB]He said: "When Young crosses the ball, Carew is just offside but it would have been a hard one for the referee to spot.[LNB]"I thought it was hard on our keeper because he made a couple of great first-half saves. He is disappointed he didn't keep out the second goal but his overall performance was magnificent."

Source: Team_Talk