Villa hit Derby for six

Three goals in each half against hapless Derby helped Villa keep up their chase for a Uefa Cup.

Villa rout Derby at Pride Park

Three goals in each half helped Aston Villa keep up their chase for a Uefa Cup place at the expense of hapless Derby. The home side started the better but Villa took the lead in the 25th minute after Derby keeper Roy Carroll missed an Ashley Young free-kick. Villa added a second 90 seconds later when John Carew drilled a low shot from the edge of the penalty box, although it appeared to deflect off Gabriel Agbonlahor in an offside position and into the net. Then on 36 minutes, Stiliyan Petrov netted a fantastic goal from 40 yards after Carroll hit a clearance straight at him. The Bulgarian gathered the ball and lobbed the keeper into the top right-hand corner. In the second half Villa completed the rout with goals from Gareth Barry (58), Gabriel Agbonlahor (76) and substitute Marlon Harewood (85).

Heads down

For the opening 25 minutes the Rams were the more energetic side, chasing lost causes and generally proving a nuisance to a far more accomplished Villa outfit. But then once the first goal went in, heads went down and that was it - game over for anyone connected with the club who remain on course to become the worst team in Barclays Premier League history. In fairness to Jewell's side, they had virtually no time to prove if they are made of slightly sterner stuff these days as O'Neill's side added a second within 90 seconds. There was a compelling case for pointing a finger of blame at Roy Carroll for both goals, the first of which there is no doubt. The Northern Ireland international allowed a 25-yard free-kick from Young, awarded for a foul on Agbonlahor by Darren Moore, to slip through his fingers while under pressure from Olof Mellberg. For the second, it can be argued Carroll should have pounced on a loose ball pinging around the edge of the six-yard box rather than a lunged clearance with his feet. Unfortunately for Carroll, the ball fell to the feet of Carew and with rapier-like speed he rifled home a 20-yard drive. Even more unfortunately for Carroll and Derby, the thunderbolt took a slight deflection off the knee of Agbonlahor who was two yards offside at the time yet no flag was raised. Ten minutes later, with time initially to clear a back pass, Carroll was swiftly put under pressure by Agbonlahor, culminating in his eventual effort falling short of the half-way line.

Genius

What transpired in the seconds that followed was sheer genius as Petrov chested the ball down and allowed it to drop prior to unleashing a long-range strike that arrowed over Carroll and into the top right-hand corner of the net. Petrov was rightly mobbed by his team-mates, while Carroll was a forlorn, lonely figure in his area, at one stage briefly pulling over his red-face his orange goalkeeping top, such was his acute embarrassment. Carroll at least denied Villa captain Barry a fourth early in the second half, but not for long as he duly joined the scorers in the 58th minute. His eighth goal of the season was a simple tap in after Carroll had turned a curled shot from Agbonlahor into his path - perhaps the Irishman had run over a black cat on his way to the ground. Villa then turned the screw late on, with Agbonlahor adding the fifth in the 76th minute, running onto a long ball over the top before sliding it past Carroll and in off his right-hand post. The mauling was duly completed in the 85th minute with Harewood, on as a substitute for Carew 15 minutes earlier, scoring his sixth goal of the season in front a half-empty stadium. The Rams fans had little to cheer, other than a Moore header inches over the bar towards the end of the first half and a first-time effort from Rob Earnshaw that forced Scott Carson into his only meaningful save with the score at 5-0. At one point in the second period they staged a Mexican wave such was their bid to put on a brave face, but come the final whistle there were barely enough fans remaining to muster a meaningful chorus of boos.

Derby County	Team Statistics	Aston Villa
0	Goals	6
0	1st Half Goals	3
3	Shots on Target	11
4	Shots off Target	4
2	Blocked Shots	1
3	Corners	2
16	Fouls	16
1	Offsides	8
0	Yellow Cards	0
0	Red Cards	0
71.7	Passing Success	74.1
24	Tackles	21
79.2	Tackles Success	95.2
44.1	Possession	55.9
51.7	Territorial Advantage	48.3