IT may not have been the defeat David Moyes feared would signal the end of his team’s European dream, but it certainly felt like one.
Within moments of securing a pivotal triumph at near rivals Aston Villa, a calamitous injury-time own goal by Phil Jagielka consigned Everton to a third successive draw and dealt a devastating blow to hopes of overhauling the Midlanders for a top-seven finish.
This wasn’t the way Jagielka would have wanted to mark his 100th appearance for the club.
And this wasn’t what Moyes’s men merited after another impressive away performance that once again emphasised the great strides that have been made since the turn of the year.
But when Jagielka’s unintentional header squirmed away from the grasp of the previously-excellent Tim Howard and trickled over the line, perhaps with it went Everton’s hopes of Europa League qualification.
Before last night’s game, Moyes admitted Everton had used up all their proverbial nine lives in pursuit of European football. And from feeling like the cat that got the cream, matters ultimately soured for the visitors.
Certainly, a return to the Europa League will be a big ask now. With only four games to play, Everton stay in eighth place, still four points behind seventh-placed Villa having played a game more, and five points adrift of neighbours Liverpool.
The remaining fixtures – at home to Fulham and Portsmouth and away at Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City – are all eminently winnable for an Everton team that have now lost just twice in 20 Premier League games.
But the fact is Villa’s late, late equaliser means Moyes’s side are now reliant on those above them faltering dramatically during the final month.
A brace of trademark headers by Tim Cahill had put Everton on course for a morale-boosting victory, the Australian’s second coming less than two minutes after Gaby Agbonlahor’s 72nd-minute equaliser.
Howard deserved better than to be culpable for this draw. The United States goalkeeper has been Everton’s most consistent performer of the season, a claim he underlined with a string of magnificent saves during a first-half in which Villa emphatically shrugged off their FA Cup semi-final exit to Chelsea on Saturday evening.
Everton were fully refreshed having had 10 days since their last game, the 2-2 home draw against West Ham United, and it made for an enthralling, exhilarating encounter between two sides firmly intent on three points.
Villa were understandably less than impressed with some of the officiating in defeat to Chelsea, leading O’Neill to berate “incontestable decisions” that went against his team at Wembley.
The home fans took their grievances out on referee Martin Atkinson last night, bemoaning every whistle that went in Everton’s favour.
It meant there was a heavy air of discontent inside Villa Park when the visitors went ahead through a typically predatory Cahill strike on 23 minutes.
When Atkinson awarded Everton a free-kick after Leon Osman went to ground under the weight of Stephen Warnock’s robust challenge, the Villa support was outraged.
And that feeling only intensified as Cahill freed himself from flimsy marking by Richard Dunne to head in the resultant Leighton Baines delivery from six yards.
The goal was just reward following a bright start by Moyes’s side, although both teams had their chances during an entertainingly open first half.
Everton signalled their threat during the formative stages when both Osman and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov saw shots blocked by Villa defenders, with the former drawing a good save from home goalkeeper Brad Friedel in the 14th minute with a curling effort from the edge of the area.
