Martin O’Neill reflected on the 3-1 win for Villa over Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium today where Villa once again only played one half but by the sounds of it, what a half!
With goals from the up-coming Villa midfielder Craig Gardner, the hot shot just returning from a shoulder injury Luke Moore (who scores for fun up t’north) and a blinder from much maligned Stiliyan Petrov, Villa have managed to get into the top ten again – at last!
O’Neill said: ‘It was a great comeback. I thought the second-half performance was magnificent. We scored three goals and won away from home for the second time in a week, which is absolutely splendid. We gave away a soft goal after starting off brightly enough. That put us on the back-foot, but we got back into it with a goal just before half-time. That gave us a boost and we were a different side in the second-half.’
‘Craig’s goal put Middlesbrough on the back-foot and the second-half belonged to us. Even if we hadn’t got the goal just before half-time, I believe our second-half performance probably would have earned all three points. I was delighted for Luke Moore. He controlled with his first touch and scored with his second, which is what Luke is capable of doing. I was delighted it fell to him, because he is one person capable of doing that.’
‘It was also great to see Stiliyan on the scoresheet. I thought his whole second-half performance was good. There was a lot more energy about it and he got the goal as a reward.’
Now give us a home win, PLEASE, give us a home win!
Next up, high flying Portsmouth at Villa Park, Man City away, out final home game of the season v Sheffield United and our last game of the season at the Reebok Stadium v Bolton. How about we get all 12 points then and finish the season how we mean to start the next?!
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