James Milner epitomised the unyielding spirit that brought 10-man Aston Villa a fifth away victory in succession, confirming that they mean to be durable challengers in the Champions League race. Martin O’Neill’s squad require reinforcement, but nobody can doubt the Midlanders’ mettle.

Outplayed for much of the first half, Villa fell behind to an early goal by Sunderland defender Danny Collins and went a man down when Ashley Young was sent off in the 72nd minute with the game in the balance at 1-1, before Gareth Barry’s penalty kick completed a remarkable comeback.

“Milner was fantastic. When he scored the equaliser he had actually been stood on the goal line, defending a corner, before we broke downfield,” said O’Neill. “I don’t know where the team found it from today. We have fought back in a lot of games this season. We showed great resolve, great inner strength. It took us some time to get into our stride but we got our rhythm in the final 15 minutes of the first half and in the second half we were terrific.”

O’Neill has instilled into his predominantly young, English players a fierce desire to succeed. They are snapping at Chelsea’s heels for third place and only two points separate them from Liverpool in second. “I was disappointed that Manchester United scored in the last minute too,” O’Neill quipped.

For long stretches of the first half it looked as if this would not be their day. Steed Malbranque’s suspension left Sunderland short of a player to supply Kenwyne Jones and Djibril Cisse with the ammunition through the middle with which the two hitmen inflict most of their damage. But the Black Cats had able passers in Carlos Edwards and Teemu Tainio especially. And hesitancy in the Villa back four, in which Carlos Cuellar came in to replace the injured Martin Laursen, left them caught square too often. Sunderland’s assured movement and constant thrust contrasted starkly with Villa’s lack of pace and pattern. Gabriel Agbonlahor was isolated. Ashley Young, who swapped flanks periodically with Milner, was too peripheral. Barry was unable to get on the ball to any effect.

Sunderland went ahead from a free kick floated almost innocuously into the Villa box, the kind that Laursen might have met and cleared with characteristic defiance. But Cuellar allowed Collins to jump in front of him and the defender’s header beat Brad Friedel.

Tainio prolonged Villa’s discomfort with a couple of clever through-balls, the first of which Jones controlled with his back to goal before turning Curtis Davies and shooting from 25 yards. Friedel saved. When Tainio tried to repeat the trick with Cisse, Davies made an important tackle close to the edge of the penalty box, but El-Hadji Diouf was able to link up with Dean Whitehead, whose momentum propelled him perilously close to Friedel. His shot required an excellent save. Villa nearly conceded a second goal when Anton Ferdinand arrived unchallenged at the near post to meet a corner kick, but his header went narrowly wide.

But this was another day on which Villa refused to accept a sorry fate. Agbonlahor, Young, Barry and Milner were at the heart of the recovery. Agbonlahor gained possession in midfield before the ball was fed to Young along the right flank, which led to Milner’s goal. Young soared past Nyron Nosworthy and delivered a superb cross to the back post, where Milner, sliding in head-first, touched the ball into the net, perhaps with his shoulder rather than his head. But his determination, having run the length of the field to meet the ball, could not be questioned.

The controversies mounted. Young was sent off for a challenge in which both feet were raised off the ground when he collided with Whitehead. Holding on to a point would have been a creditable result at this stage, but Villa wanted more and they got it.

Agbonlahor gave chase to a long clearance. On the edge of the box Paul McShane made a dangerously high tackle, his right foot swinging into the Villa striker’s face. Mike Dean pointed to the spot, ignoring Sunderland claims that Agbonlahor was offside and that contact had been made outside the penalty area. Marton Fulop, the Sunderland goalkeeper, was booked for delaying Barry’s penalty kick but the midfielder despatched his shot confidently into the top left corner.

“I thought we would get something out of the game but we didn’t defend the two goals well. We committed schoolboy errors. We have to get that out of our make-up,” said Sunderland manager Ricky Sbragia.

A bit of whatever Villa have in their DNA would go a long way on Wearside.

Star man: James Milner (Aston Villa).

Yellow cards: Sunderland: Tainio Cisse, Nosworthy, Fulop. Villa: L Young, Agbonlahor.
Red card: A Young.

Referee: M Dean

Attendance: 40,350

Sunderland: Fulop 6, Chimbonda 6, Nosworthy 6 (McShane 61min), Ferdinand 6, Collins 7 (Bardsley 61min), Edwards 7, Tainio 7, Whitehead 7, Diouf 6 (Reid 81min), Cisse 5, Jones 5.
Aston Villa: Friedel 7, Reo-Coker 7, Davies 7, Cuellar 6, L Young 7, Petrov 7, Milner 8, Sidwell 6 (Gardner 74min), Barry 7, A Young 7, Agbonlahor 7.