ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE: Everton 2 Aston Villa 3THIS WAS the most brutal end to a celebration since Tony Adams dropped Steven Morrow and Arsenal's match-winner in the 1993 League Cup final broke an arm. Goodison was still reverberating from Joleon Lescott's stupendous overhead kick when, in the time added on for the hysteria that marked his 93rd-minute equaliser, Ashley Young set off towards the Gwladys Street goal. Everton's euphoria would be gone in seconds.
This contest had it all. A stunning opening, an extraordinary finale and an impassioned duel in-between times. After Martin O'Neill and David Moyes had reached the press-room it was not the five flights of stairs that rendered them breathless, but a spectacle they struggled to comprehend. They were not alone.
With 53 seconds of the allocated time remaining Lescott hooked a fabulous finish beyond Brad Friedel. It was the least Everton deserved for a performance in which they recovered superbly from an early deficit, struck the bar and had another header from Marouane Fellaini cleared off the line.
With Everton still cherishing their equaliser, however, Young seized on Gabriel Agbonlahor's pass, danced inside Lescott and delivered his own double beyond Tim Howard. Villa, from bench to players to supporters, had swung from despair to delirium.
While Moyes questioned the validity of the stoppage time allowed after the three added minutes had elapsed, O'Neill exalted "a world-class footballer" in Young. Not even the Everton manager, amid his fury at the defending that cost so dearly, could question that.
Young was superb, his pace the difference between the teams that fought for the one remaining Uefa Cup place last season. Villa have much loftier aspirations now.
This is the most played fixture in English football, and the clubs' 187th league encounter was a throwback to days when physical contact and simmering feuds were an accepted facet of the game.
History would also have appealed to O'Neill on his return to Goodison, a stadium where the Irishman had never lost in 10 visits as player and manager; the 11th beckoned before he had settled into his seat. The first attack put Villa in front with the quickest goal of the Premier League season so far, and also one of the finest in terms of approach and finish.
Having bemoaned his redeployment to left-back, Luke Young justified his manager's thinking when he cut inside and found James Milner after Mikel Arteta had been muscled off the ball. Milner laid the ball back into the path of Steve Sidwell and the midfielder drove a stunning shot, hard and true, beyond the grasp of Howard.
Only 34 seconds had elapsed, and for an Everton team who have the ignition speed of a Vauxhall Viva at the best of times, this was an ominous start.
Villa controlled the early exchanges and would have established a comfortable lead had Martin Laursen converted a corner from Ashley Young.
But, despite their anaemic start, Everton's crisp midfield, ably supported by Victor Anichebe, gradually turned the contest, and from midway through the first half until the final touch they were on top.
Lescott levelled matters when he converted Arteta's free-kick, helped on by the head of Leon Osman, and Everton remained in the ascendancy until Phil Jagielka gifted Villa the lead again with an horrendous back-pass.
Jagielka has been Everton's most consistent performer this season but his mistake undermined their recovery. Under little pressure, and obviously without spotting or heeding Young, the defender rolled a back pass to the Villa man who finished expertly.
Still Everton pressed, and with Anichebe succumbing to a back injury Moyes had to finish the game with Fellaini, a central midfielder, and Jagielka in attack. For 30 seconds the Everton manager believed his plan had worked. But it was too early to celebrate.
• Guardian Service
