Sun Apr 27 13:17:24 2008

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Carew keeps Villa's European hopes alive

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Liverpool, England (Sports Network) - John Carew scored in the 85th minute to help Aston Villa earn a 2-2 draw with Everton at Goodison Park on Sunday.

The result keeps the Villains within three points of Everton with two games to play as the two teams battle for the final UEFA Cup spot. The Toffees final two games will be at Arsenal and home to Newcastle, while Aston Villa will finish up the season at home to Wigan and away to West Ham.

Carew's goal capped a wild second half that saw the team's combine to score four goals, including three in the final 10 minutes.

Everton's Phil Neville broke the scoreless deadlock in the 56th minute, but Villa answered through Gabriel Agbonlahor with 10 minutes to play. Joseph Yobo's first goal of the season four minutes later looked to seal the win for Everton and put them into Europe, but Carew tallied less than one minute later to earn a share of the points.

Ashley Young's free kick marked the lone bright spot in the first half as he smacked a shot off the crossbar from the top of the box midway through the half.

Both sides came out attacking more in the second half, and the hosts got on the scoreboard first.

Ayegbeni Yakubu cut the ball back through the middle of the box from the left and Neville ran onto the ball and struck it first time. The shot glanced off the shoulder of Villa defender Martin Laursen and slipped past goalkeeper Scott Carson.

Villa started to threaten the Everton net as the half went on, and they grabbed the equalizer through a corner kick in the 80th minute.

Gareth Barry swung the ball into the box and Agbonlahor did well to hold off his man and turn the ball past Everton keeper Tim Howard with a first-time volley from the top of the six-yard box.

Everton thought they had claimed all three points when Lee Carsley's floated ball to the back post was smashed into the roof of the goal by Yobo, but Villa hit back right away to stun the Goodison Park faithful.

Barry once again provided the cross as he drove the ball into the area from 35 yards and Carew turned a header inside the far post from eight yards to salvage a draw.

Blackburn ended Portsmouth's hopes of qualifying for Europe as Rovers downed Pompey 1-0 at Fratton Park. Roque Santa Cruz scored the lone goal in the 74th for Blackburn, which is two points back of Pompey for seventh place.