UEFA Cup - Gardner on target in Villa draw

Eurosport - Fri, 29 Aug 10:45:00 2008

An impressive display by Aston Villa booked their place in the UEFA Cup by beating Iceland side FH Hafnarfjordur 5-2 on aggregate after drawing 1-1 at Villa Park.

Craig Gardner - 0

The opening goal was scored by defender Craig Gardner who superbly volleyed home from 12 yards from Marlon Harewood's cross on 26 minutes.

The Villains were in complete control for the majority of the match and the visitors rarely had a sustained period of possession.

Wayne Routledge was constantly causing trouble on the wing - taking on defenders and beating them for pace.

Atli Vldar Bjornsson levelled for the visitors on the half-hour mark with a powerful strike past Brad Friedel in the Villa goal.

Marlon Harewood put in a decent ball right across goal, but it had too much pace on it and missed out everyone in the box.

A powerful low shot by Osbourne forced a good stop by Oskarsson in the visitor's goal on 40 minutes.

After the break a shot by Tryggvi Gudmundsson was deflected for a corner for the visitors, but the corner was collected easily by the keeper.

Captain Nigel Reo-Coker put in a good display with short and long passes from midfield setting up attacks.

The former West Ham man also defended effectively throughout stopping any attacks in the centre of the park.

A good strike by the substitute Nathan Delfounso went just wide on 69 minutes with the midfielder making a positive impact on the closing stages.

The away side had a handball claim as Gardner had the ball struck right at his arm but it was completely accidental on 80.

Villa saw out the remaining 10 minutes to claim their place in the first round of the UEFA Cup after a comfortable victory.

Martin Wakinshaw / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 9 of 9

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  1. Well see where you finish at the end of the season with your ENGLAND C TEAM ?

    From alan.darlow, on Fri 29 Aug 10:00PM

  2. Milner is having a medical it's a fact believe me

    From astonbilla, on Fri 29 Aug 11:54AM

  3. Not bad considering only 3 players who started last night will start on Sunday against Liverpool. We'l be all nice and refreshed whilst Liverpool players will be tired. Oh and they'll no doubt miss Stevie G sitting on the floor with his arms up going..."whatttt?" trying to win a freekick! UP THE VILLA!

    From Steve, on Fri 29 Aug 8:27AM

  4. ye @#$%..!

    From , on Fri 29 Aug 12:05AM

  5. @#$% on the villa

    From mark, on Thu 28 Aug 11:22PM

  6. Villa tried out a few things and i would not be suprised if two of the side tonight are sold or loaned out before start of september

    From iancampbell11@..., on Thu 28 Aug 10:47PM

  7. Have to agree this is terrible he didnt even score the goal

    From Westley C, on Thu 28 Aug 10:21PM

  8. i am villa through and through but the defence is a problem this year .ithink the defenders we have can do a good job but they need to get there act together fast.looking forward to seeing the new rangers defender and larsen working with each other.

    From keith, on Thu 28 Aug 10:19PM

  9. ok is this a joke, Harewood is a villa player now, and West Ham are not in Europe. c'mon eurosport don't you have any other photos.

    From sreevsie, on Thu 28 Aug 10:15PM
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