Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill hopes Emile Heskey's 86th-minute equaliser in the 1-1 draw at Burnley will spur the striker on to more goals.

The England international has been spending a lot of time on the bench this season and it was his first Barclays Premier League strike since April 18. He pounced at the far post to nod home James Milner's cross and cancel out Steven Caldwell's ninth-minute header.

"It is obviously very important for him. He has the reputation of being a provider for other players to score goals," said O'Neill, who worked with Heskey when the pair were at Leicester. "That's fine, it's okay, but I think if you are a centre-forward you have to get your quota in."

He added: "It was a great boost for him. He took it very well indeed.

"I've worked with him a long time and I think he is capable of scoring more goals than he does do."

The point was enough to lift Villa into the top four, although Tottenham can take that place back with at least a point at home to Wigan on Sunday.

O'Neill felt a draw was a fair result as his side had the better of the second half having been dominated before the interval.

"I think on our second-half performance we deserved it. We were stodgy in the first half when we had no reason to be," said the Villa manager. "We were coming into it on the back of a really great win (5-1 at home to Bolton) and confidence was high.

"I thought Burnley adjusted much better to the conditions in the first half than we did and they got the goal - which was not a very good goal from our point of view.

"It knocked us back a bit and we didn't get going at all until the second half when I thought the point was well merited."