Premier League - Villa seal European place

Eurosport - Tue, 05 May 10:30:00 2009

Aston Villa sealed a place in Europe next season after a controversial John Carew goal gave them a 1-0 win over Hull City at Villa Park, their first Premier League victory in 10 matches.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 Premier League Aston Villa Aston Villa-Hull Villa striker John Carew celebrates scoring with Ashley Young - 0

Carew appeared to be in an offside position when he touched Ashley Young's first-half centre past Boaz Myhill.

The result put Villa back in fifth position and left Phil Brown's battling Tigers a solitary place and three points above the relegation zone.

Hull started well enough and almost took an early lead when captain Ian Ashbee sent a shot whistling just wide of the right-hand post in the second minute.

Ashbee did not last much longer after a 50-50 challenge with James Milner saw the Tigers man limp out of play with what appeared to be a badly-bruised knee.

From then on Hull looked disjointed and lacking in midfield bite, although Villa offered little going forward to hint at anything other than mid-table quality.

The hosts took the lead through Carew's dubious strike.

With 34 minutes played, Young raced on to a Gareth Barry through-ball after the Villa captain combined with Stiliyan Petrov to rob George Boateng on the edge of the visitors' box.

Young cut inside from the left and played a delightful chipped cross that Carew - who appeared to be just offside - poked past Myhill into the bottom-right corner.

Villa will argue that the Norway hit-man was level with Michael Turner but he seemed to have got half a yard beyond him at the moment Young clipped the ball in.

Hull were lucky to escape a penalty shout soon afterwards when midfielder Boateng clumsily tackled Carew from behind to send him sprawling.

Gabriel Agbonlahor forced Myhill to tip over in first-half injury-time and, while Villa deserved the lead, it was hardly a classic encounter between two sides who were free-scoring earlier in the season.

The second half started with the hosts showing more attacking intent and Hull were kept in the match by the antics of former Villa trainee Myhill.

He tipped Barry's swerving right-foot drive wide less than two minutes after the restart and denied Milner on 65 with a smart, low save.

Myhill made an incredible stop on 78 minutes when he somehow palmed Agbonlahor's close-range header over the bar after the Villa striker was given what seemed an open goal by Zat Knight's header across the face of the six-yard box.

The wonder-save gave Hull hope and the last quarter hour - which included five minutes of added time - saw Martin O'Neill's men on the rack, so unused to winning that even the most rudimentary approach by the Tigers set their backs against the wall.

Chances came for Daniel Cousin, Manucho and Kamil Zayatte but good positioning by Brad Friedel and poor finishing from the visitors meant Villa were able to ride out the pressure, despite a flurry of late corners that saw Myhill join the attack.

Villa are now two points ahead of sixth-placed Everton with three games remaining, and while they cannot catch Arsenal in fourth, they will play in the inaugural Europa League as they are 10 points ahead of West Ham in seventh.

Hull, meanwhile, have three points over 18th-placed Newcastle but the Magpies have a superior goal difference that leaves them a win away from safety.

Reda Maher / Eurosport

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  1. Well done Villa!!!! Now hang on to 5th place and build­ the squad for next season.

    From tuscanvillan, on Tue 5 May 7:15PM

  2. am a villa supporter, but truely o neill does not know­ how to buy, he cant handle the big names, learner has­ given him the money, but he dont know how to spend it!­ villa need to buy big and good, as like everything in­ life ur either lucky and pick the right lottery numbers­ or u pay peanuts you get monkeys like harewood, heskey­ and co

    From rahul s, on Tue 5 May 6:27PM

  3. I don't want Hull City out of the premier league...

    From Domistiic, on Tue 5 May 6:05PM

  4. well done villa. but hull did put up a good fight you­ have to admit that they played like they wanted to­ survive unlike boro who stroll around on the pitch and­ yeh i am a boro fan. anyway good luck to liverpool to­ win the league

    From smiley123, on Tue 5 May 4:36PM

  5. liverpool.rtu39 your just upset coz u aint going to win­ the prem. and u missed out on getting barry so u­ bourght robbie kean then sold him good biss, theres­ nothing like your chairmen aswell what have thay done?

    From David, on Tue 5 May 10:20AM

  6. Nice one Villa, very pleased, and yes I am a Blues fan.­ But I want to see all of our teams up there, not just­ the Villa, lets have them all, including the Baggies­ and Wolves, I like the rivalry, but lets have it at the­ top for a change!!!

    From ingram674, on Tue 5 May 9:36AM

  7. A Brown get a life you sad @#$%

    From Tim, on Tue 5 May 9:22AM

  8. @ chrisgascoine1 - Any true Villa fan is behind MON.­ Ok, so he perhaps made a mistake in Moscow, but the­ logic behind that was right - we needed to concentrate­ on the Champions League chase. We had to prioritise, we­ didn't have the squad to compete in all­ competitions.

    We just need a stronger squad!

    From Steve, on Tue 5 May 8:52AM

  9. And and Paul, we look forward to 6 points from the­ Blues next year :D Are the Blues the new West Ham?­ Going up, going down, going up, going down.

    From Steve, on Tue 5 May 8:50AM

  10. If we strengthen the squad during the summer with­ better defenders (need to potentially replace Laursen­ if he doesn't come back) and perhaps another­ striker or 3 (Owen perhaps if Newcastle go down), we­ should stand a good chance of cracking the top 4.

    We­ would have done it this year if it wasn't for the­ collapse in form, caused mainly by the need to rotate­ players around. We need a bigger squad if we are to­ really compete in Europe next year.

    The squad is just­ lacking in confidence at the moment, as was clearly to­ see during the last 20 mins last night, got that was­ painful to watch!

    But we need to keep Barry, the­ midfield we have is one of the best in the premiership,­ imo. We just need to strengthen the defence and attack­ with decent players so we have decent cover available­ and competition for places.

    From Steve, on Tue 5 May 8:49AM

  11. Well done Vile, hope your youth and reserve teams­ represent England in Europe with pride next season...

    From pauljohnbates, on Tue 5 May 8:28AM
  12. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Big Four is untouchable!

    From hejon1, on Tue 5 May 8:03AM
  13. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    barry groves are you fookin crazy? No way villa will­ get top four they are a shambles

    From FoeyP, on Tue 5 May 7:40AM

  14. well done aston villa,top 4 next season perhaps.!!!!

    From farsical, on Tue 5 May 5:18AM

  15. Europe guaranteed, Villa playing OK with a tired squad­ after a long season, 6th would do but 5th is better,­ ONeils gamble in throwing the game away in Moscow­ proved to be bad in that the team lost its winning­ attitude but we proved we can draw well and eek out­ points when times are tough.
    I have no idea how we will­ perform next season but this one was a good one, and to­ all the small heath fc bloggers placing abuse just­ close your green eyes and try to envisage a day when­ your history and possible future could even begin to­ resemble ours, about 50 years, some FA Cups, a few­ League Cups and a Champions League Trophy should see­ you nearly level. Keep trying till the end of your road­ (which aint far).

    From paul.stevens27, on Tue 5 May 2:17AM
  16. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    PS A forest Fan with Robbo and Oneil you Villa fans are­ so F****** lucky. I can only dream that one day they­ will come back to their true home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From Chris, on Tue 5 May 1:48AM

  17. I am astounded with the comments. I am not even a Villa­ fan but I have to say what a job to pull a team from­ where they were to now with mostly UK players and using­ only 18 of them. O Neil is a master. I think you lot­ need your heads testing unless this is just a blues or­ Wolves forum. Get some pride back it shows why ONeil­ should have been England Manager and Why he is the next­ Brian Clough!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From Chris, on Tue 5 May 1:40AM

  18. 5th or 6th place in the Prem is very good achivement...­ We'd love to go further, but realisticly with such­ a tiny squad its impossible. I think by resting players­ in Feb, both FA cup and in Europe, lost the winning­ momentum, and that negativity has lasted 3month. ONeal­ good manager, but I think he made a bad desission­ there; no one is perfect!
    Goodluck nextyear!

    From A, on Tue 5 May 1:38AM

  19. what r u talking about eddy? theres only a couple of­ decent aussie and asian players and their already at­ premier league clubs. Do you suggest villa just hire­ some aussie bar tender n stick him in defence?

    From Jamie, on Tue 5 May 1:28AM
  20. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Arsenal team that played against Portsmouth, average­ age 21. Wenger is God

    From Nigel, on Tue 5 May 1:27AM
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