Draw frustrates O'Neill
10 Apr 2007 - 09:58:09
Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill bemoaned his side's wastefulness in front of goal after they were held to a 1-1 draw by a Wigan Athletic side that played for almost an hour with ten men.
The Latics held on for a point following Antonio Valencia's first-half dismissal as Villa's poor scoring record - they have netted only 33 goals in their 33 Premiership games this term - continued.
"We should have won that," admitted O'Neill.
"Wigan didn't buckle and that's credit to them. We had a number of chances to win the game in the second half and we spurned them.
"No matter how much possession you have, and we had plenty, if you can't finish you're going to find it a wee bit more difficult. I know they had a player sent off, but they defender stoutly.
"To equalise so early in the second half, I thought that would be the platform for us to go on and win the game. We were in the ascendancy and had attack after attack, but the winner wouldn't come.
"We had a few moments after the equaliser. I thought Olof Mellberg's header looked very, very close to being over the line and Ashley Young had the header. I thought the goal was going to come, but it didn't.
"If you'd said to me before Easter we'd collect four points, I probably would have taken that.
"But having won so well at Blackburn, a victory today might have moved us into the top ten. That was the disappointment - not converting the chances into goals."