Aston Villa 1 MSK Zilina 2
Dec 5 2008 by Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail
his mark with two goals against Stromsgodset.
The skill with which Delfouneso despatched the left-foot volley from Harewood’s flick-on of Knight’s long ball suggested he could carry on his remarkable scoring run for the reserves and youths – 22 goals last season – on the bigger stage.
The problem for Villa was they were already two goals behind when Delfouneso found the net.
They came mightily close to snatching at least a point in a barn-strorming finale when they threw everything at the visitors who were reduced to 10 men for the final 11 minutes because of two fouls inside 17 minutes on Ashley Young by goalscorer Vladimir Leitner.
And yet the defeat also saw Villa register exactly what they came for – qualification for the last 32 of the UEFA Cup.
Sure, they have thrown away the chance of making life easy for themselves, but the next phase of the competition is where they are.
Try asking Tony Adams or David Moyes who is the happier.
Villa now need to win at Martin Jol’s Hamburg to have any chance of winning the group, although even then they could yet be pipped by Ajax who face bottom side Slavia Prague at home, with all three clubs on nine points.
The prospect of them facing potential Champions’ League drop-outs like Bordeaux, Shakhtar Donetsk, Zenit St Petersburg, Dynamo Kiev, Fiorentina or Marseille means O’Neill must pick his big guns in Germany.
He will now be unable to rest weary legs prior to the Premier League trip to West Ham three days later.
As for the action, Leitner’s curling cross eluded everyone and nestled into the far corner, then a move of such swiftness and precision made Villa look stationary.
Adauto pulled away from Carlos Cuellar, rolled the ball into Peter Pekarik’s path down the right. He got away from Luke Young and when his low cross came in Knight lost his man and the ball was superbly slotted beyond Brad Guzan by Peter Styvar.
Knight, who had earlier seen a downward header tipped over the bar by keeper Dusan Pernis, had a hand in Villa’s lone reply with a long ball that Harewood nodded to Delfouneso who did the rest.
Plan B kicked-in with James Milner, Gareth Barry and Agbonlahor’s emergence but the chances came and went.
Harewood headed wide, Craig Gardner controlled, turned but saw a volley blocked and Luke Young almost scored with a mis-hit.
Barry nodded over and drove a scissor-kick wide, Gardner headed wide with the goal at his mercy then hit the post with another and finally Agbonlahor drove wide.
VILLA (4-4-2): Guzan 5; Reo-Coker 5, Knight 5, Cuellar 6, Luke Young 6; Gardner 7, Salifou 5 (Barry,68, 6), Osbourne 4 (Milner,65, 6), Ashley Young 6; DELFOUNESO 7 (Agbonlahor,76, 6), Harewood 4. Not used: Friedel, Laursen, Petrov, Clarke.
MSK ZILINA (4-4-2): Pernis; Pekarik, Vomacka, Sourek, Leitner; Strba, Jez (Tesak,90+3), Pecalka, Piacek; Adauto (Vladavic,71), Styvar (Rilke,86). Not used: Seman, Karoglan, Belak, Poliacek.Referee: Espen Berntsen (Norway).
