Young scored twice in the second half, the winner coming deep into injury time, to force Villa back into fifth spot in the Barclays Premier League.

O'Neill said: "It was an incredible last minute. And it has so much to do with Young. He is an incredible footballer, world class. Sensational.

"I work with him every day and he produces that sort of finishing every day in training, but he also has the ability to produce that sort of form in big matches, too.

"He's about eight stone wet through, but with a heart the size of a lion. And he is getting better and better.

"He makes things happen. There is an expectation now over him not just from myself, but his colleagues and the crowd. He is terrific.

"He is always positive and wants to attack. Even when he has been put through for that winner, he still has miles to go, but he found that energy in the 94th minute after being up and down the pitch for us all game.

"He defends a post at corners, gets up the other end to score, and works himself into the ground. And the skill he has, to beat players and still put it into the net is brilliant."

Steve Sidwell put Villa ahead after just 34 seconds, only for Joleon Lescott to equalise near the break.

It took a horror backpass from Phil Jagielka to give Villa their second, Young punishing the mistake.

But Lescott's second, in injury time, looked to have saved a point for Everton before Young struck again in the dying seconds.

Everton boss David Moyes now believes that Villa can crack the top four. He said: "Villa have the players and the financial backing to be likely contenders for a place in the top four.

"But it's hard to explain how disappointing that defeat was, we felt we had got an equaliser.

"I cannot fault my lads. From the second minute to the 93rd we were excellent.

"We did everything we could. We had a couple off the line and hit the bar. I have been looking for a good performances and that was what we got, only the result was wrong.

"Their second goal was a bad mistake with a poor backpass, and then we had to chase the game.

"We gave ourselves a mountain to climb against a side who are excellent on the break.

"But we kept going and got the equaliser. I felt then that it would finish 2-2, I don't know how much more time was played but it seems a lot after the board had gone up saying three minutes extra."

Moyes added: "It seemed a lot more than three minutes played. I felt when we kicked-off after the equaliser the whistle would go, but maybe we had celebrated too long. Do they add time on for celebrations now?

"I suppose it was a minimum figure so they will hide behind that. I'm told that the kick-off was 93 mins 10 seconds, and they scored in 93 min 32. It was that close."

"But we did lose concentration at that kick-off, we were a bit disorganised, but we had defenders playing up front, these things happen.

"Villa are the most likely to break into the top four. But I felt it should have been Everton's day, we deserved a victory. At least a draw."