Bolton 1, Aston Villa 1: Bill Howell's big match verdict

Apr 27 2009 by Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail

WHAT was once Villa’s best season since Ron Saunders and the league title, then their best since Graham Taylor and Ron Atkinson’s charge towards second, then their best since Brian Little’s fourth and fifth, is now quite simply their best for 12 months.

A year ago Villa were sat where they are now: 55 points from 34 matches, although they were then back in seventh.

They were a team chasing another, Portsmouth, who were in the Cup Final.

Now they are in fifth trying to keep the door shut on another Cup Final team – Everton.

All in all it was a decent point as Villa seek a fifth-place finish for the first time in 12 years.

But they have made a habit of shooting themselves in the foot just when glory beckons.

The way their season has imploded over the last two-and-a-half months has now equalled the 12-game run between November and a home victory over Watford in January 2007 in Martin O’Neill’s first season at the club.

Villa seemingly had fourth place in the bag two months ago. Then came a swing of Glenn Whelan’s trusty boot which galvanised Stoke and pierced their belief.

At this point Arsenal clicked into gear and Villa’s season since has outwardly resembled a plane crash.

To be fair to Villa, during this 11-match run only their performance during most of the 5-0 hammering at Liverpool showed them clueless.

A large portion of the FA Cup defeat to Everton and the feeble first half at Manchester City were similarly poor, but they should have beaten Stoke, Tottenham and West Ham. They could also have drawn at the European champions.

At Bolton they were neither at their brilliant best as at Old Trafford for 80 minutes, nor their shocking worst at Anfield.

They got about what they deserved in a match that neither side dared lose, so neither went that extra mile to make it a spectacle.