Aston Villa Football Club News

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

• Ground:Villa Park
• Capacity:42,584

O'Neill hails 'intelligent' Villa

13 Dec 2009 - 12:59:18

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Martin O'Neill was delighted to see his Aston Villa side finally end their Old Trafford hoodoo by beating Manchester United 1-0 on Saturday evening.

Gabriel Agbonlahor's first-half goal proved decisive as Villa secured three points at Sir Alex Ferguson's side for the first time since 1983.

The former Celtic manager said: "This season the record against the top-four sides has been really exceptional and I'm just absolutely delighted to have won the game.

"It's been a long time since the football club has won at Old Trafford. For the last couple of years, every single time it's been 'what are you going to do about it?'

"It wasn't easy but it was a really fine victory. I'm just delighted to have won it. We were certainly under the cosh for the last 20 minutes of the game and I thought it was a great effort to see it through. It was a big, big effort.

"I thought defensively we played more intelligently. Instead of diving in I thought we tried to read the little one-twos as best we could and there was already somebody seemingly prepared to get a block in as well.

"We played intelligently and I thought we played pretty courageously.

"What does it do for us? It probably gives us a bit more confidence for Tuesday night which will be exceptionally difficult and we've got a hectic Christmas programme.