Aston Villa v Birmingham City always a great derby, says Roy Aitken

Apr 17 2008 By Colin Tattum

A TYPICALLY feisty derby is on the cards, according to Roy Aitken - and he should know.

Aitken was in the Villa dug out for six of the eight so far in the Premier League.

His first two experiences (2003-04) were of draws, Blues did the double the next season before Villa got their revenge with 1-0 (St Andrew’s) and 3-1 victories in 2005-06.

“They are great derbies, there’s real emotion in them,” said Blues joint first team coach.

“I already knew [before joining Villa] that they were highly-charged. I knew the feeling in the city was strong as far as wanting to get the better of your rival.

“Before David O’Leary and I had arrived, there had been a couple of mistakes and Birmingham had had the edge in the games.

“And Birmingham finished above Villa, for the first time in a long time, in our first season.

“It was important for us - speaking with my Villa hat on here - to try and re-establish Villa as the main team in the city.

“The derbies went Birmingham’s way for the first two seasons and the final season was when Kevin Phillips scored the winner at St Andrew’s and Gary Cahill got that goal at Villa Park.

“They were fantastic games. I always think it’s nice for the fans to have their team win the derby but the most important thing is picking up points and finishing as high up the league as you can.

“The icing on the cake is when you have the edge in the derby games.”