Aston Villa FC

• Nickname:
• Founded:1874
• Manager:Gerard Houllier

• Ground:
• Capacity:NaN

O'Neill happy with opening win

24 Oct 2008 - 08:41:08

Click To Enlarge

Martin O'Neill was pleased with the way his Aston Villa side coped with the pressure as they got their UEFA Cup Group F campaign off to a winning start against Ajax.

First-half goals by Martin Laursen and Gareth Barry helped Villa beat their Dutch opponents 2-1 and, with games to come against Hamburg, Slavia Prague and MSK Zilina, O'Neill is confident of progressing in the competition.

He said: "The pressure was on us to open up with a win, and we've achieved that. But I'm delighted we were under pressure because you can't play games in Europe without it, and we responded really well.

"Now we will have to think about trying to win our other home game (against MSK Zilina) and getting something from the away games.

"You'd have thought seven points would be enough to finish in the top three, and I'd say that would be a proper target.

"If you've got seven points on the board it means you've won two games, and that should get you at least third in the group. So it's certainly a good start for us.

"Gareth Barry was exceptional, with the idea at the start of the game for him to push on and join in. To do that you need someone who can hold it up, and I thought (Gabriel) Agbonlahor's hold-up play was immense.

"Gareth managed to get up in support, and get beyond, and overall it was a big, big performance. But to win the game we needed some big performances, which we got. It was a thoroughly deserved win."