Aston Villa Football Club News

• Nickname:The Villains
• Founded:1874
• Manager:Alex McLeish

• Ground:Villa Park
• Capacity:42,584

Harewood impresses O'Neill

22 Feb 2008 - 08:23:11

Click To Enlarge

Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill has praised the attitude and commitment of back-up striker Marlon Harewood.

The 28-year-old has started just two games for Villa since his arrival from West Ham United, but has contributed well from the substitutes bench, much to O'Neill's pleasure.

He said: "One of the things that made the decision to allow Luke Moore to leave for West Brom a wee bit easier has been the performances of Marlon Harewood.

"He has still not started a Premier League game for us, but has had a major impact in matches coming off the bench.

"That is great for Marlon and he feels much more part of it than ever before, which is really terrific.

"When he was not involved much in terms of playing, he just got his head down and worked hard to try and make an impression and he is getting his reward now.

"I thought he rejuvenated us against Newcastle in the second half. He has made a big impact in recent times, starting at Liverpool and he is thinking to himself 'I'll get the start soon'.

"He was ready for it against Newcastle. I thought he was great and caused them a lot of problems alongside John Carew, but was also prepared to drop back when we were protecting the lead."