Sunderland 1 Aston Villa 2: Barry grabs late winner from spot for 10-man Villa

19 January 2009 03:50
Gareth Barry celebrates after scoring his side's winner from the spot They did it without John Carew. Again. There was more than one reason why Martin O’Neill was on the pitch on Saturday after Aston Villa’s fifth consecutive away League win. ‘In terms of our fightbacks this season, it’s a brilliant win,’ said O’Neill. ‘It was a long way back when they got their goal, but we have a resolve.’ There was some luck, too, and a realisation on O’Neill’s part that his squad is stretched. Ashley Young was sent off in the win over Sunderland Ashley Young, sent off for an ugly two-footed lunge at Dean Whitehead, misses the FA Cup this Saturday and the Premier League games against Portsmouth and Wigan to follow. ‘I don’t think we can keep going in the fashion we have,’ added O’Neill. ‘We’ve been going since July 19 and I think it’s been really hard work. ‘Ashley Young gets an enforced rest. Far from me to say a sending-off resolves a problem — it doesn’t. 'We will miss him badly for the three games. And we’ve got a couple of suspensions coming up, everything catches up with you.’ Propelled forward by James Milner and Young, Villa recovered from a Danny Collins opener although they did not have an effort on target until Milner half-headed, half-punched in Young’s cross on the hour. Young was then dismissed but the 10 men gave as good as Sunderland’s 11.   More... Sunderland's Andy Reid rules out war of words with Ireland boss Giovanni Trapattoni as he eyes international recall Sunderland chairman Quinn slams 'predatory' Spurs and Hull Flabbergasted Villa boss O'Neill says City's£100m Kaka move makes mega-rich Chelsea look 'small fry' Then came the luck as referee Mike Dean gave an 80th-minute penalty for a 50-50 challenge by Paul McShane on Gabriel Agbonlahor and Gareth Barry rifled in the penalty. ‘The aim’s got to be to get into the Champions League,’ said Milner. ‘Anything more and it’d be amazing.’  

Source: Daily_Mail