Boss Tim Sherwood praised Tom Cleverley's focus and hopes he continues to impress in his Aston Villa "audition".
The midfielder scored Villa's third in their 3-2 win over Everton to keep them two points above the Barclays Premier League relegation zone.
Christian Benteke's brace - the striker has now scored 11 goals in nine games - had put Villa in control before Cleverley hit back following Romelu Lukaku's penalty.
Manchester United loanee Cleverley is out of contract at the end of the season and has been linked with Everton but Sherwood wants to keep him and was delighted with his focus.
He said: "He was excellent, Tom. I was a bit worried because I thought he might have been playing for Everton, with his eye on it next season, but he proved he's really focused on doing the job for Aston Villa and he shows the quality he has.
"He tirelessly works around the pitch but he's got more than that. He showed a real cool head in front of goal, two in two now so I'm waiting for the next one against West Ham.
"He's still auditioning for me, I'm hoping."
Everton missed out on Cleverley to Villa last summer but Roberto Martinez refused to discuss the possibility of a move.
He said: "I worked with Tom in the past (at Wigan) and he is a player I know really well. It wasn't close, he came to Aston Villa and as you can imagine he is defending Aston Villa. He has got a very important aim to fight for so we never speak about a player who is not registered with Everton."
Martinez felt the damage was done by Benteke's first-half brace, giving the Toffees a mountain to climb.
Lukaku's penalty, after Ron Vlaar felled Steven Naismith, made it 2-1 before Cleverley restored Villa's two-goal lead.
Phil Jagielka's injury-time header made Villa sweat but Martinez admitted they could not recover from the first half.
He said: "It's fair to say Villa were the better side in the first half and we were the better side in the second. We couldn't get through that poor period without damage. I thought the damage of giving a two-goal lead was huge.
"The third goal from Aston Villa against the run of play is probably what gives the home side the three points. It's unfortunate we couldn't get through the first period without being so damaged."
Source: PA
