Villa lacking a killer instinct

Alam Khan at Molineux

• Last Updated: October 24. 2009 10:05PM UAE / October 24. 2009 6:05PM GMT

Sylvan Ebanks-Blake scores from the penalty spot to give Wolves a share of the spoils against Villa at Molineux yesterday. Alex Morton / Action Images

WOLVERHAMPTON // While he would not admit it publicly, Martin O’Neill must know his Aston Villa side let themselves down.

It is all well and good beating Liverpool and Chelsea, but a side with Champions League ambitions should not concede eight points in results against Wigan, Blackburn and now Wolves. Villa lacked the flair and finesse they showed against Carlo Ancelotti’s men last week. Crucially, they also lack a killer instinct against sides in the bottom half of the table.

After Gabriel Agbonlahor swept in his 79th-minute goal to give them the lead, they went backwards, inviting Wolves forward to claim a point through a Sylvan Ebanks-Blake penalty just four minutes later. O’Neill admitted: “Having played so well in the last couple of games [against Manchester City and Chelsea] and gone into this game with loads of confidence and wanting to impose ourselves on this game, we just didn’t do that.

“That was the biggest disappointment. Maybe it was because it was a derby. Obviously we can play much better.”

Villa showed only glimpses of their quality in an improved second-half performance. Ashley Young lashed a shot just wide before the backside of Richard Dunne rescued Wolves when he blocked a goalbound shot from teammate Steve Sidwell as he was trying to get out of the way. Emile Heskey made an impact from the bench, sliding the ball in to Agbonlahor, who turned and finished for his sixth goal of the season.

But Wolves deserved their point. A backheel from Nenad Milijas set up Michael Kightly in the box and his clever move tricked Sidwell into a wild lunge. Ebanks-Blake smashed home the spot-kick for his first Premier League goal.

His manager Mick McCarthy said: “We all believe he can play in the Premier League and score goals in it. Don’t anyone underestimate the taking of that penalty, in that atmosphere. It was fairly emphatic.”

So too was the case for a fourth-minute penalty that could have enlivened the 99th meeting between the neighbours.

Kevin Doyle is an irritant for defenders, never letting them settle. Dunne knows that from their time together with Ireland and he was fortunate not to concede a penalty and escape a red card after appearing to pull the Wolves striker back as he burst through.

Had Doyle gone down, it might have swayed the referee Peter Walton into a favourable decision.

But an aggrieved McCarthy said: “You don’t have to go down to be given a penalty do you? If it’s a pull of a shirt, or a push or a pull, if it’s a penalty it’s a penalty. It was stonewall. He had his wallet off him and everything.”

McCarthy hinted that Walton might have made a different decision were it one of the league’s bigger teams involved.

“I think that’s unfair on Kevin Doyle,” he said. “But I could argue that we were at Sunderland and we didn’t get one and that was Christophe Berra and he is not a big name. We were here against Portsmouth [when Marc Wilson’s handball in the area was not spotted by the referee in a 1-0 defeat]. Then we had a free kick against Doyle last week [at Everton] that has ended up in the back of our net. Is it Doyle or is it us?

“The referee has given his decisions honestly, but the fact is he’s given it wrong.”



akhan@thenational.ae