Aston Villa chief Martin O'Neill hailed the impact made by Ashley Young during his first 12 months at the club after the 3-1 win over Reading.Young moved from Watford for an initial £8million last January and has become one of the most potent players in the Premier League.

He again showed his worth by having a hand in the build-up to all three goals in the win over Reading on Saturday when John Carew (twice) and Martin Laursen were on target.

O'Neill said: "If you had asked me whether I thought Ashley would have played for England by this time, then I would not have been sure about that.

"But if you are asking me whether I thought he would have made an impact, then the answer is yes.

"He was a young kid who had been at Watford all his life and took a bit of time getting used to the surrounds here.

"But he has taken things by storm. He has been fantastic. He can go 60 yards at pace, beat players at the edge of the box and has the ability to deliver from the open play of free-kicks.

"But he also works hard. The way in which he tracks back is brilliant."

Carew and Laursen both took advantage of Young's accuracy at set-pieces and 20 of Villa's 40 goals have come from either a corner or a free-kick this season.

O'Neill said: "If you have got someone who can deliver a ball like Ashley, then I think I could score!

"But you still have to have people who have the desire to get on the end of his balls into the box and we have that.

"The delivery for the first goal was inviting someone to get in there and John Carew did that."

Laursen has now scored six goals this season and O'Neill is desperate to keep the Denmark international, whose current contract expires in the summer.

O'Neill said: "Martin has been sensational. As regards to his future, we are hoping, we want to keep him badly. He keeps playing brilliantly."

Reading boss Steve Coppell admitted his side lacked the physical presence in defence to deal with Villa at set-pieces because of African Nations Cup call-ups and the absence of Michael Duberry, who failed a fitness test on a knee injury.

He said: "We are disappointed. It was going to be a tough call when Michael failed the test. Then we had to re-jig things and a physical presence at Villa Park is necessity.

"Villa are so powerful on set-pieces, the bigger your team, the more chance you have on combating that.

"But having said that the bottom line is Carew was offside for the first goal and it should not have been a corner before they scored their second goal. Those are the cold facts."

Coppell refused to criticise referee Uriah Rennie, who appeared to anger both managers with some of his decisions.

Coppell said: "You can't win so what is the point of moaning about it now. I am not going to say anything about the referee because we are going to get him again."

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