Villa choke again
Martin O’Neill as ever put a brave face on it, saying that he was pleased that his team have qualified for the next round anyway, but will no doubt be getting frustrated at the fact that his side let another less favoured team take the points.
Villa are still fifth in the league having only picked up 5 points from a possible 15, and second in their UEFA Cup group despite losing to the supposed weakest team.
The Villa faithful are starting to worry about their credentials as challengers for any trophies and breaking into the top four, although last night was a loss for a fringe and young team the occurrence of missed opportunities must surely be reduced.
Only Luke Young, Ashley Young, Nigel Reo-Coker and Carlos Cuellar were regulars in the team that started at Villa Park, with 17-year-old Nathan Delfouneso making his debut. The performance on the whole was not an especially poor one, the goals conceded were disappointing though, a fluke direct from a cross and a swift counter attack that is nothing that wouldn’t ordinarily be faced in the Premier League.
The game started off with a number of crosses and corners from Villa, going close a couple of times. Zat Knight headed downwards only to bounce up and be tipped over the crossbar by Pernis for another corner.
Having not threatened in the first fifteen minutes, Zilina managed to take the lead through Vladimír Leitner’s in-swinging cross that perhaps should have been dealt with by Knight, but he appeared to duck and it bounced into the far corner past Brad Guzan.
The Slovakians were two up no more than three minutes later when Cuellar lost his footing and Zilina broke quickly down the right-hand side and Peter tyvar was left with a finish from close range.
Villa pressed to get back into the game, and did so just before the half-hour mark with the young debutant. Skipper for the night, Reo-Coker played a long ball up field which was chested down by Marlon Harewood and Delfouneso fired in a first time left foot volley from outside the area.
The rest of the game was all Villa’s as they pressed for an equaliser, with Zilina attempting to counter if possible, but even the introductions of James Milner and Gareth Barry for the disappointing central midfield pair of Mustafa Salifou and Isiah Osbourne could not find the goal they needed.
Villa went close on a number of occaisions with Ashley Young, Craig Gardner and Milner only to be denied or narrowly miss. Gabby Agbonlahor was given the last 15 minutes to make a difference when he came on for the impressive goal scorer who received a standing ovation, but all he could do was draw a foul from Leitner, which earned his second caution and thus dismissal.
Craig Gardner, arguably one of the better performers on the night saw his injury time header bounce off the post to disappoint the 28,000 Villa supporters but delight the 1,000 or so in Yellow.