Source: Team_Talk
O'Neill backs Gabby for England spot
Villa boss Martin O'Neill believes it will be difficult to leave Agbonlahor out if he maintains his current form.[LNB]Agbonlahor was not chosen by Fabio Capello for England's recent matches with Slovenia and Croatia at Wembley.[LNB]But he struck for the third successive match on Saturday to help Villa gain a comfortable Premier League victory over Pompey - their fourth in a row.[LNB]Agbonlahor showed his strength and power in shaking off Pompey defender Tal Ben-Haim to score the decisive second goal two minutes before the interval.[LNB]O'Neill admitted: "We were buoyed by the strike from Agbonlahor and that sort of thing can give you a massive lift. He conjured something from nothing.[LNB]"He is playing brilliantly for us and that was a fantastic goal.[LNB]"I know South Africa is a long way off but if he can continue that sort of form he will be hard to ignore."[LNB]Villa shook off the training round bust-up between O'Neill and the axed midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker to sustain their challenge for a European spot.[LNB]O'Neill said: "The kerfuffle had nothing to do with today. We got a bit of momentum going before today and it was important to keep that going.[LNB]"We looked a bit tired which is inexplicable but we won the game and know we can play much better."[LNB]Portsmouth boss Paul Hart bemoaned his side's poor defending as they slumped to a sixth successive league defeat.[LNB]He said: "I am not pointing the finger at anyone and we have a difficult job to do.[LNB]"I thought we played well in the first half and they did not give us many problems.[LNB]"But you are distraught if you give away two goals that you would be distraught about if you were an 11-year-old. That gave us a mountain to climb but overall we played extremely well.[LNB]"They were two errors that in terms of Premier League football I can't quite understand.[LNB]"I have got great belief in my players and I do think we will turn things around."[LNB][LNB]
