MON: Turning Point

By Paul Brown

Martin O'Neill insists he felt "ignited" to bring the good times back to Villa after his team's rip-roaring comeback against Everton in April 2007.

The Villa boss regards the night on Monday April 2 as the defining point of his first season as manager.

"In the first half against Everton, we were just wretched for every reason under the sun," he says. "The crowd booed us off and everything we got at half-time that evening, we thoroughly deserved.

"The team could have wilted under that pressure and ended up being in deep, deep trouble but they went out and showed their battling qualities and their character.

"There was a genuine desire and we came rolling back from a position of despair. That showed something about the team that really pleased me.

"I learned a lot about them that night, and also about the crowd, who had been sharing our frustration for some considerable time.

"If ever there was an evening where I felt 'this is a club worth doing something for' that was it. It was encapsulated in a 90-minute period where we were getting the crowd's utter wrath in the first half but were applauded off at the end."

Villa's battling second half performance that night earned them a 1-1 draw. But the sheer magnitude of the second 45 minutes, crowned by Gabriel Agbonlahor's late equaliser, convinced O'Neill that he can create something special at Villa Park.

"Talk is cheap, but I've never felt more ignited about wanting to get things right for a club," he added.