Football Badges and Chang Beer

IF Thursday night belonged to Nathan Delfouneso then Sunday belonged to Ashley Young (although Martin Laursen pushed him close).

Anyone out there know who ended up with Laursen's or Steve Sidwell's shirts?

An incredible ending. An incredible start for that matter. It was a 35 second goal for a time, that someone then narrowed down to 31 seconds. By the time the game had ended it was back up to 34 seconds.

I chose the wrong day to forget my stopwatch.

Anyway, what a win. And yet we are talking of very fine margins once again.

Had Ashley Young not scampered away and slotted that ball in the back of the net then there might still have been talk about a missed opportunity in Europe.

There would more than likely have been talk about a disappointing performance at Goodison Park and a nightmare ending.

But the end always justifies the means.

Young did put that chance away after scampering beyond Joleon Lescott as if he were a tailor's dummy.

And so the resting of eight players in the UEFA Cup three days earlier now looks justified- even if Villa have given themselves a bit of an uphill fight if they want to win the group next week.

Three points at Everton and that fight for a top five place, or beyond, is back on.

It doesn't matter how you perceive Villa to have played, it was a thrilling win if not a thrilling "game".

I doubt I have ever witnessed a game with quite a start and end.

It was like a bread and butter sandwich if you like. Nice bread below and on top, but not a fat lot inbetween.

Well, that's not actually true. Most of you will have seen it on TV in the pub. Villa were masterful for 20 or 25 minutes. Steve Sidwell's stupendous opener was followed by a period of utter domination which was strangling the life out of the home side who looked so utterly average without a striker of any pedigree.

Then for 20 minutes Villa were shoddy. They were pushed back and were lucky to be on level terms at the break.

Brad Friedel's fingertip save from Everton's beanpole walking haircut, Marouane Fellaini, was crucial as within a few minutes Young had put Villa back infront courtesy of a shocking backpass.

Once again Villa looked steady and composed and for 15 minutes or so had the points in the bag.

But back came Everton. Villa crumbled and eventually wilted in injury time.

2-2 was about right. The Everton fans were happy.

Then more drama.

So for me it was a "great" and a "thrilling" win, if not a tremendous performance.

For me it wasn't a great game either. Which made me wonder just how Lee Dixon, Martin Keown and Adrian Chiles could call it thus on Match of the Day Two last night.

But it made a change for a remarkable ending to fall in Villa's favour.

The last gasp slips at Tottenham, Arsenal, Liverpool and so forth in recent seasons still stick in the memory.

Last gasp wins always count double.

On a personal level I always like going to Everton. And it's nothing to do with a press room fridge being full of Thailand beers, or the meat and potato, cheese or steak pies which always seem to be in abundance.

It's nothing either to do with a couple of pubs within arms length of the press door.

I fell hook line and sinker for the attractive badge-seller at £2 a throw in aid of charity (that's the badges, not the seller).

Her Liverpudlian accent was best described as broad.

If she'd have said anything more challenging than "Charity badges for sale", I'd have needed a phrase book.

The choice of badges was restricted to a St George flag, a Union Flag, an Irish clover, a pint of Guinness, an Everton crest, a pair of red lips, a "we love you mummy" badge and Homer Simpson in an Everton shirt.

I dallied and then plumped for the red cross of our patron saint, although I'm not quite sure whether it will ever be adorned- save perhaps in April. Alternatively, I could always wear out out in Bosnia, Bulgaria, Catalonia, Serbia or Gergia. We share George the dragon slayer, you see.

Matt Kendrick, a Villa supporter on the Post, Mail and Mercury, plumped for........ an Everton crest. What on earth was he thinking? Was it in case he fell into the wrong company on leaving the ground?

"No, don't hit me, I'm an Everton fan. Here it is! My badge!"

Anyway, he owes me the £2 for it.

Pre-match atmospheres are always the stuff you wish you could take home in a biscuit tin.

Suffice to say the atmosphere in the Windsor Hotel opposite the stadium (they were playing Beatles tunes on the jukebox- no suprise there) was rather flat as I walked by on my way to Stanley Park at 8pm.

Some of the most memorable Villa performances in recent seasons have come at Goodison.

Who could forget Paul Merson's last minute 35 yarder eight years ago? Or the comeback that almost was from 3-0 down when Moustapha Hadji and then keeper Peter Schmeichel scored from a corner?

But however much I love going to Everton it does not compare to Martin O'Neill who has now been there eleven times as a player and a manager since as a sub for Nottingham Forest in May 1972- and never lost.

With a record like that you've got to hope that one day soon Villa are involved in a semi-final in that neck of the woods.

So now to Bolton and a chance to bury the memory of successive goalless draws against Manchester United and Fulham.

If there was a negative to yesterday's proceedings it was in the goal celebrations of messers Young and Lescott.

Why did they feel it necessary to do their celebrating infront of the opposition's supporters?

Young raced for the opposite corner flag and beckoned his team-mates to join him after netting Villa's second. After his third it was an outstretched arm all the way down the touchline before collapsing infront of the Villa end.

Lescott was no better. And from a lifelong Villa fan too.

Sometimes footballers do themselves no favours. And then they wonder why some idiots, who cannot handle their drink, lob coins onto football pitches.

By the way, what ever happened to the search for the 50 pence 'tosser' at Villa?