THE Hong Kong heat must be even tougher to take for a player who has only just come in from the cold.

But Stephen Warnock seems to be hotting up nicely himself after finding his supportive new manager Alex McLeish much more forgiving than the stifling conditions – and former boss Gerard Houllier.

Although the sun shone on Darren Bent again after his winning goal set up a Barclays Asia Trophy final against Chelsea on Saturday evening, Warnock’s burning desire to step out of the shadows was just as important yesterday.

It’s all very well Bent scoring goal after goal after goal, but if Villa don’t boast defenders brave enough to put their bodies on the line to protect their own net then the star striker’s prolific strike-rate will ultimately count for little.

In Warnock, the claret and blues had a player who epitomised the spirit McLeish must demand if he is to drastically improve last season’s shaky defence.

The left-back looked as if he was playing against his former club Blackburn in an important Premier League fixture rather than a pre-season practice tournament after crunching into tackles with no worry for his own well-being.

And considering before this month his only match action in the last half-a-year was a handful of reserve games it was an encouraging sign that he completed the entire 90 minutes yesterday.

His thundering challenges on David Dunn and substitute Nick Blackman summed up his approach and he even got forward to threaten with one first-half chance.

It is a different player to the picture painted last season of a sulky, petulant prima donna who was unwilling to show his commitment to the claret and blue cause.

What’s more, his courage rubbed off on his defensive colleagues with James Collins, in particular, another who was prepared to throw himself in front of Shay Given’s goal.

That it was only a friendly, yet Warnock, Collins and co were prepared to risk injury to win the game, is a telling hint of the all-for-one-and-one-for-all mentality McLeish has tried to instil in his squad during the Hong Kong tour.

Although, it was far from friendly when Luke Young and Collins were embroiled in a fracas with Martin Olsson, described by McLeish as ‘handbags’ in the closing stages of the match.

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