John Carew praises strike partner Marlon Harewood

Feb 9 2008

HAT-TRICK hero John Carew hailed the introduction of half-time substitute Marlon Harewood for today's 4-1 Premier League victory over Newcastle.

Villa went into the break behind thanks to Michael Owen's early header.

But Wilfred Bouma's deflected drive and Carew's flicked header turned the game around within five minutes of the restart before the Norwegian completed his first treble in English football.

"It wasn't easy to get chances," Carew said of the first half. "Marlon came on in the second half and gave us an extra lift with his power and enthusiasm.

"Then we started to create chances all the time so it was fantastic."

Carew was also grateful captain Gareth Barry allowed him to take the late penalty that saw him seal his hat-trick.

"It was fantastic today," he said. "The captain's supposed to take the penalties but he said I should take it and go for the hat-trick and I'm grateful for that.

"Normally I don't smash them but I decided to smash it high to make sure it went in."