Aston Villa eased into the first round of the Uefa Cup as they claimed a 5-2 aggregate win over FH Hafnarfjordur.
Gardner on target against FH Hafnarfjordur
Aston Villa eased into the first round of the Uefa Cup as they drew 1-1 at Villa Park against FH Hafnarfjordur to claim a 5-2 aggregate victory. Craig Gardner struck for the home side in the first half of the second leg encounter while Atli Bjornsson's leveller proved nothing but a consolation for the Icelandic visitors. Gardner broke the deadlock in the 27th minute, cruising into the penalty area unmarked to fire left-footed past shot-stopper Gunnar Sigurosson from Marlon Harewood's excellent low cross. But just three minutes later FH Hafnarfjordur equalised as Bjornsson capitalised on a goalkeeping error from Brad Friedel to chest down and thump home. Villa continued to create and were largely comfortable for the remainder of the fixture, but failed to add to their aggregate advantage.Changes
O'Neill made six changes from the side beaten at Stoke, handing full debuts to Wayne Routledge and Moustapha Salifou. With such a healthy first leg lead, O'Neill was able to rest the likes of Ashley Young, John Carew, Martin Laursen, Stiliyan Petrov, Luke Young and Nicky Shorey for Sunday's Premier League game against Liverpool. The home side were soon into their stride and could have gone ahead after 60 seconds. A fine crossfield ball from Salifou picked out Routledge - but the former Tottenham player disappointingly shot high and wide. Villa goalkeeper Friedel had to make the first meaningful save after nine minutes when he parried aside a fierce shot on the turn from Matthias Gudmundsson. Salifou was oozing confidence and was only just too high with a 25-yard effort after Gabriel Agbonlahor had squared the ball back into his path. Routledge curled a 20-yard effort inches wide after a dummy by Gardner had created the space for the shot. After 27 minutes, Villa's almost non-stop attacking paid off with Gardner breaking the deadlock. Curtis Davies released Harewood, who was able to turn and cut a right-wing cross back into the path of Gardner - who made no mistake with a rising 15-yard drive. Routledge should have doubled the lead after another fine pass from Salifou - but his control let him down. Then after 30 minutes Hafnarfjordur surprised Martin O'Neill's side by getting back on level terms. Friedel was only able to parry out a right-wing centre from Matthias Gudmundsson and the ball fell invitingly to Atli Bjornsson, who had time to line up a shot before firing home.Challenge
After Harewood became the first player to be booked five minutes before half-time for a late challenge, Salifou could have restored Villa's lead after anticipating a reverse pass from Agbonlahor - but he screwed his shot across the face of goal. The second half began in a low-key fashion and the first shot came from Tryggvi Gudmundsson which was deflected over Friedel's crossbar. Villa threatened for the first time since the resumption when Harewood glanced a header past the far post from a Barry corner. But Friedel was called into action to hold onto a fierce half-volley by Bjornsson. O'Neill brought off Agbonlahor after 61 minutes and replaced him with free-scoring reserve striker Delfouneso, who had also been used as a substitute in the first leg. There was a scare for Villa when Asgeir Asgeinsson connected sweetly with a fierce volley - but the shot flew a couple of feet wide. There was little goalmouth action in the final stages - with Harewood's close-range shot on the turn the nearest Villa came to a winner.| Aston Villa | Team Statistics | FH Hafnarfjördur |
| 1 | Goals | 1 |
| 1 | 1st Half Goals | 1 |
| 3 | Shots on Target | 5 |
| 10 | Shots off Target | 2 |
| 2 | Blocked Shots | 2 |
| 5 | Corners | 5 |
| 11 | Fouls | 7 |
| 3 | Offsides | 0 |
| 2 | Yellow Cards | 1 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 86.5 | Passing Success | 77.4 |
| 18 | Tackles | 26 |
| 61.1 | Tackles Success | 57.7 |
| 59.6 | Possession | 40.4 |
| 51.5 | Territorial Advantage | 48.5 |