Boring, boring Villa? Try soaring, soaring Villa.

A Carling Cup final later this month, into the last 16 of the FA Cup and right in the thick of the race for fourth position. Two thirds of the way in, this season couldn’t have gone much better for the claret and blues.

True, Saturday’s stalemate at White Hart Lane was not the exhibition of exhilarating, attack-minded football that has become a hallmark of Martin O’Neill’s Villa Park reign.

It was certainly recognised by the home hoards who hounded them with chants of ‘Boring, boring Villa’ as they began to retreat into their shell as Tottenham tried to turn the screw. But try telling any of the visiting faithful that this was not a performance to be proud of.

On a freezing February night in the capital, their team gave the most heart-warming of displays. Courageous. Resilient. Tenacious. You could go on and on. It was full of another trait of O’Neill teams – good, old-fashioned grit.

For all their possession, for all the seemingly endless balls pumped into the Villa box, you sensed Tottenham could have been there until midnight and yet not found a way through the ‘Great Wall’ built in front of Brad Friedel’s goal.

Right at its core, once again, was commander-in-chief Richard Dunne. For Paul McGrath, Gareth Southgate and Martin Laursen of bygone days, now read the former Manchester City skipper.

If Dunne was brilliant at Fulham last week, he was peerless this – his body like a magnet to the ball as he either headed, tackled or blocked like his life depended on it. In fact, having been under the cosh for so much of the game, this felt like a victory.

A quick glance at the table only serves to reinforce that sentiment. They might well remain seventh, but the gap to fourth can now be bridged by victory in their game in hand over Wigan next month.

Manchester City, who sit level on points with Villa, have the added advantage of a further game to play with but Saturday’s defeat to Hull raised further question marks over whether they have the consistency to stay the course.

Another mammoth test awaits on Wednesday night when Manchester United, who bang on cue are beginning to find top gear, visit in what will be a dress rehearsal for their Wembley showdown two-and-a-half weeks later.

But, after that, come five games all against sides in the bottom half of the table – Burnley,  Sunderland, Stoke, Wigan and Wolves. It will be by no means easy, but as good an opportunity as O’Neill could hope for to put a run of results together.

The truth is Villa are very difficult to beat now – they have kept clean sheets in their last four Premier League games and lost just twice in 18 in all competitions. The concern would be that they are not scoring enough goals.

In their last six league matches, they have found the net just once. Hardly the form of a top-four team. Reading between the lines, draws have to become wins – and fast.

Promisingly, the spine of the team looks rock solid – goalkeeper Brad Friedel, Dunne, Stiliyan Petrov and Gabby Agbonlahor all look in fine form.

With doubts hanging over Emile Heskey’s fitness, what they could do with now is for John Carew to kickstart a campaign which has never really taken off and start shouldering some of the goalscoring burden.

Ultimately, that could prove the difference between Champions League and Europa League. One thing they can ill afford is injuries and Heskey’s latest setback leaves them one away from a crisis up front.

By the time the England striker had left the field, Spurs had already set the tone for the contest with Luka Modric and David Bentley both wasting decent openings.

The same had to be said for Tottenham skipper Ledley King, who rose unmarked to meet a Bentley corner on 14 minutes only to head straight into Friedel’s arms.

Within three minutes the evergreen American was called upon again, only this time he had to be at his best – swiftly racing off his line to deny Crouch after the ex-Villan was sent through by Modric’s glorious nutmeg.

At this stage Friedel was the busiest player on the pitch, pushing away a vicious Tom Huddlestone drive before Carlos Cuellar scrambled to safety.

The claret and blues are kings of the counter-attack, let’s not forget, and they almost snatched the lead after 27 minutes when James Milner’s thunderbolt was too hot to handle for Heurelho Gomes, but the Spurs keeper redeemed himself with a fine reflex save to keep out Agbonlahor’s follow-up.

But normal service was soon resumed, as four minutes before the break Friedel was again the scourge of Spurs when, at full stretch he used one of his giant hands to palm away King’s goalbound effort to a safe enough place which left Jermain Defoe with too tough an angle.

The second-half began as the first one ended, as Friedel was quickly called into action to stop another Huddlestone howitzer. But for the next 20 minutes or so Villa gave as good as they got, enjoying their best spell in the contest.

The climax of that pressure resulted in a fine chance for Carew who, just a few yards from goal, spun his marker to latch onto Cuellar’s floated ball only to shoot straight into Gomes’ arms. It could have proven a costly miss but, thankfully, Villa’s defence had brought their ‘A game.’

By now virtually camped inside their own box, Dunne and co had an answer to everything the home side could throw at them.

The footballing gods were with them the one time they slipped up as referee Chris Foy waved away what looked legitimate penalty claims when Petrov made contact with Defoe inside the box. There was still time for further scares, Crouch twice seeing efforts creep agonisingly past Friedel’s left post but it was not to be.

One point, then, but it felt like three.

By Brendan McLoughlin