Sport

Villa fail to recover from early blow

Rapid Vienna 1 Aston Villa 0: ASTON VILLA’S season is less than a week old but already it is beginning to feel like a slog…

STUART JAMES at the Gerhard Hanappi Stadium
Fri Aug 21 2009 - 01:00

Rapid Vienna 1 Aston Villa 0:ASTON VILLA'S season is less than a week old but already it is beginning to feel like a slog.

A calamitous opening period, which saw Nikica Jelavic score the only goal of the game with just 16 seconds on the clock, culminated in a second defeat in six days to leave Villa’s hopes of reaching the group stages of the Europa League hanging by a thread. The second leg at Villa Park on Thursday promises to be fraught.

August is not the time for making far-reaching judgments but these are worrying times for Villa fans, and with a trip to Anfield to come on Monday things are likely to get worse.

Martin O’Neill’s side improved after the interval but it was not until the 87th minute that Helge Payer, diving to his left to thwart James Milner, had a serious save to make.

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At the opposite end it had been a very different story as Jelavic struck with alacrity. Curtis Davies, who later dislocated his shoulder, was the only Villa player to have touched the ball when the home side took the lead. The central defender’s header dropped at the feet of Mario Konrad and when possession was switched to Christopher Drazan on the left, a fine cross was met by the head of Jelavic with Davies prone.

Villa were in a state of shock and it was not until the second half that they roused from their torpor. Pressure, however, failed to yield chances, with Emile Heskey once again disappointing and Villa generally bereft of ideas.

At the opposite end, Rapid Vienna threatened sporadically, with the game becoming stretched as Villa pursued an equaliser.

It was a chastening night for O’Neill to reflect on. “I wasn’t disappointed with the performance,” insisted the Villa manager. “For a start, Rapid are a very good side, as they showed in beating Liverpool [in a pre-season friendly] a few weeks ago. The timing of the goal was very disappointing but we have to fight back.”

RAPID VIENNA: Payer, Patocka, Dober, Katzer, Jovanovic, Heikkinen, Hoffmann, Drazan, Konrad, Pehlivan, Jelavic. Subs: Hedl, Thonhofer, Kulovits, Eder, Soma, Boskovic, Trimmel.

ASTON VILLA: Guzan, Shorey, Davies, Cuellar, Beye, Ashley Young, Sidwell, Reo-Coker, Gardner, Milner, Heskey. Subs: Friedel, Agbonlahor, Albrighton, Delfouneso, Delph, Petrov, Lowry.

Referee: Alexandru Dan Tudor (Romania)