UEFA Cup - Villa off to winning start

Eurosport - Fri, 24 Oct 08:58:00 2008

Aston Villa got their UEFA Cup group stage campaign off to a winning start with a 2-1 victory over Ajax at Villa Park.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 UEFA Cup Aston Villa Martin Laursen - 0

In the absence of striker John Carew - a late withdrawal through illness - captain Martin Laursen (pictured) headed Villa into an early lead, only for defender Thomas Vermaelen to restore parity for Marco van Basten's side on 33 minutes.

But Gareth Barry's well-placed strike on the stroke of half-time proved to be the winner as Villa took all three points to put them top of Group F, level on points with Hamburg who had earlier beaten Slovakian outfit Zilina by the same scoreline.

Ajax started the brighter of the two sides and enjoyed most of the possession during the opening stages of the match.

But that counted for nothing when Ashley Young's eighth minute corner found a soaring Laursen in the penalty box. Goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer challenged but the Villa captain rose a little higher and was able to plant a firm header into the back of an unguarded net.

Ajax hit back on 22 minutes, again from a corner. This time it was Urby Emanuelson who centred and Vermaelen who met it at the near post with a header that flashed across Brad Friedel in the Villa goal.

The visitors could easily have taken the lead on the half hour mark when another corner caused problems in the Villa penalty area; Luis Suarez flicked on at the near post, but a stretching Klaas Jan Huntelaar could not direct his far post effort on target.

At the other end, Young continued to threaten and on 37 minutes the England Under-21 international could - and probably should - have put Villa into the lead for a second time. But instead of finding the target after James Milner's deflected cross fell kindly to him, he dragged his volley wide of the mark.

There was no such profligacy in front of goal eight minutes later when Barry found the corner of the net with a precise finish from Young's pull back to the edge of the box.

It was the perfect time to score and a blow which Ajax were unable to recover from.

After a high-tempo opening period, the second half was decidedly more sedate, although Vermeer was a busy man before an hour was on the clock, the Ajax keeper having to make smart saves to deny Nicky Shorey his first goal in a Villa shirt and Barry a second of the night.

But despite a poor start to their domestic season, Ajax always posed a threat, even if Huntelaar rarely showed why he is coveted by some of the continent's biggest clubs.

Instead, it was left to substitute Dario Cvitanich - with a header over the bar - and Urby Emanuelson - with a super half volley from outside the box - to give Friedel most cause for concern.

But Villa held firm and Barry could even have sealed an impressive personal display with a great strike with the outside of his boot as time ran out; Vermeer was well-placed to make the save.

One black spot on an otherwise blemish-free night for Villa came in injury time when Gabriel Agbonlahor was stretchered off the pitch with a knee complaint following a collision with Vermeer. The England man will undergo tests before the extent of the injury is revealed.

Zilina 1-2 Hamburg

In Slovakia, forward Mladen Petric, whose goal for Croatia at Wembley last year ended England's hopes of qualifying for Euro 2008, got the first goal after 15 minutes for Hamburg.

Ivica Olic added a second for Martin Jol's side before half-time as Hamburg secured an important win despite substitute Emil Rilke's second-half strike for Zilina.

Eurosport

Comment 4 - 23 of 23

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  1. ajax are the best because I am half dutch

    From Tom, on Wed 5 Nov 8:37PM

  2. ASTON VILLA RULE

    THESE TEAMS ARE RUBBISH: LIVERPOOL, MAN U , PRESTON , BARCELONA

    AND ALL THAT

    z Z z Z

    From Nathan, on Tue 28 Oct 12:10PM

  3. aston villa, aston villa, aston villa. the team that has proven to be tough and unbeatable. they have had a very good result in the premier league.
    chelsea beware!
    prince.

    From mrprince, on Fri 24 Oct 7:55PM

  4. the dutch should have planted tulips there is enough @#$% on the villa pitch for them to thrive

    From Bromley Blue, on Fri 24 Oct 4:37PM

  5. First half display from Villa was superb! A bit anxious in the second half but overall good value for their win!

    From Michael, on Fri 24 Oct 9:24AM

  6. Beer

    From Aneil, on Fri 24 Oct 6:40AM

  7. as an evertonian and out of europe and carling cup ,.i would like villa to do well this season in uefa cup ,.they have a strong team and o neill is nothing short of a genius in motivating hard working average players,, and those with talent to spare !I PREDICT VILLA WILL FINISH IN TOP 4 PREM PLACES THIS SEASON !!! having said that they will struggle with a smaller squad than others and a lot of tough games to play in 4 competitions ,. good luck to yhe villains but not when they play us !! COME ON MOYES ,.LETS BEAT THE MANCS ON SATURDAY AND GET BACK TO FORTRESS GOODISON !!

    From IAN, on Fri 24 Oct 5:07AM

  8. I love it when someone says 'english side' meaning that their side is not full of foreigners, when actually half the side is made up of.... foreigners! The reality is no team in the premier league will ever be fully english again, ever!!! And if the clubs so good why did Barry want to skip ship? Anyway great win, well done villa.

    From Billy, on Fri 24 Oct 1:05AM

  9. No big egos here, no over-hyped prima donnas, no excessive reliance on foreign 'stars' to do the job. Just a hard-working English side with a captain with above average eloquence for a footballer and a manager who actually says meaningful things. Reminds me of what football used to be like in this country.

    From mygrain2000, on Thu 23 Oct 11:42PM

  10. his armband proved he was a red TORRES TORRES
    you'll never walk alone it said TORRES TORRES
    we bought the lad from sunny spain
    he gets the ball he scores again
    FERNANDO TORRES liverpool's number 9
    na na na na na na na na na na .....

    From ti_roop, on Thu 23 Oct 11:29PM

  11. villa are still @#$% though

    From carl o, on Thu 23 Oct 11:13PM

  12. GO VILLA GO just the stuff fans needed(win over gaints like AJAX).
    And to nicholasbnjmn for comment 13 dont compare villa with spurs, villa currently lies in 5th position in league table n spurs r at the bottom of the table(villa def spurs this season at lane 2-1). And abt the hype man atleast they r living upto the expectations n hype of media n fans not like spurs who r filled with big ego players like Bentley n Bent n also tht comical goalkeeper Gomes.

    And most important thing which Villa have is MARTIN O'NEILL

    From neo m, on Thu 23 Oct 10:35PM

  13. Up the Villa...they can beat the bunch of tulips..

    From Xi Ci, on Thu 23 Oct 7:57PM

  14. villa will lose, just like spurs, they are over-hyped

    From nicholasbnjmn, on Thu 23 Oct 7:35PM

  15. Villa will probably win this match. Because I'm a Dutch Mancunian I've seen Ajax play a lot of times and I don't think Villa will have too much trouble defeating them. Ajax isn't the team it was in the 90's.

    From jeroenleebeek, on Thu 23 Oct 5:05PM

  16. If I were Gareth Barry i would be careful about questioning where the manager plays him.

    He should have learned his lesson this summer and just go out and play where asked without question.

    From CHRISTOPHER M, on Thu 23 Oct 4:39PM

  17. GO VILLA GO start the campaign with a win against gaints like AJAX....
    MON is the BEST

    From neo m, on Thu 23 Oct 2:56PM

  18. Ajax isn't the team it was10/ 20 years ago... Aston Villa won't have a difficult evening against them i think. As a dutch man i also enjoy seeing Ajax lose, especially after my team's (PSV) victory against l'OM yesterday.

    From sjoerdveer, on Thu 23 Oct 2:38PM

  19. Come on VILLA you can do it put your hearts into it like we did years ago.
    best of luck
    giddy.

    From ron g, on Thu 23 Oct 2:09PM

  20. come on villa! im a dutchman supporting ADO Den Haag and theres nothing that makes me happier then seeing ajax lose! especially when its a team from the best league in the world!

    From xanderbetke, on Thu 23 Oct 10:58AM
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