Martin O'Neill: We were unlucky against Manchester City

Dec 24 2007 By Bill Howell

MARTIN O'Neill bemoaned Villa's lack of fortune against Manchester City in his side's first home draw in eight months.

TV replays suggested Gabby Agbonlahor had registered a seventh goal of his season, although the referee deemed his close-range shot did not cross the line before it was cleared by Elano.

O'Neill said: "I saw it from an obscure angle. It was very close and Olof Mellberg thought it was in the net.

"Your hands go up automatically. That doesn't mean it's a goal but we got no luck."

O'Neill admitted Villa were again slow out of the blocks. He added: "We started the game on the back foot for no apparent reason. But whether we started on the back foot or not, we conceded a really sloppy goal.

"But even so, once we started to press and get a bit closer to them, we started to take it off them and from then on it was all us."

O'Neill gave great credit once again to the home support who really got behind his side.

"The crowd lifted us and John Carew lifted everyone," he said. "Against what I would consider a quality side, we didn't get what we deserved.

"That's when you have to be careful, because when you don't get what you deserve, there are no guarantees you will do next game.

"On the day we played well and it was two points dropped."