James Milner delighted with his cheeky goal and three points for Villa

Dec 7 2009 by Mathew Kendrick, Birmingham Mail

VILLA’S man-of-the-moment James Milner has expressed his delight that his guileful goal against Hull ended up in the net rather than the Holte End.

Milner took his tally for the season to five with a sublime lob over Tigers keeper Matt Duke during the convincing 3-0 victory at Villa Park on Saturday.

The winger-turned-central-midfielder scored from around 30 yards out with Duke off his line after quick-thinking from two of his Villa team-mates.

Gabby Agbonlahor found Milner with a quick throw-in after substitute Steve Sidwell caught out Hull by retrieving the ball as he warmed up on the touchline.

“It was quick thinking from Siddy,” said Milner.

“It is not easy to score goals in the Premier League, so when you get the chance to maybe catch teams out of position, you’ve got to do that and we did.

“It happened so quickly. You know what you want to do and hope it comes off. Luckily it came off. Obviously defenders are running back and it had to be just right.”

Although man-of-the-match Milner left clutching the sponsor’s champagne, he was more interested in Villa’s collective prize.

“The most important thing was the three points,” he added.

“Coming off a good result weekend, we knew it would be a tough game. They have been an on form team recently so we knew they would be well up for it and would come out of the blocks quick so it was important that we matched them.

“It is important when you are on top in a game that you do take chances and score the goals.”