Under strength Villa slip to defeat against Hamburg
O'Neill's side were out-played by Hamburg in their final group game
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Wednesday, 17, Dec 2008 10:12
Aston Villa fielded an under strength side against Hamburg in their final Uefa Cup group game and lost 3-1 to the German side.
The defeat means Villa, who had already guaranteed qualification before tonight's match, finished third in their group and will play a group winner in the last 32 of the competition.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment for Villa was the sending off of midfielder Steve Sidewell just before full time. He will now miss the first leg of their next European match.
Villa manager Martin O'Neill took the opportunity to rest the likes of Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor but his squad players looked out of their depth against a rampant Hamburg side.
The Germans were effective in possession and after putting Villa under pressure for much of the opening exchanges they eventually broke the deadlock after 18 minutes.
Bastian Reinhardt hit a raking 50-yard diagonal pass into the path of Mladen Petric who controlled the ball well before lashing a volley past Brad Guzan.
The hosts got a deserved second ten minutes later when Dennis Aogo picked out Ivica Olic with a cross from the left wing. The Croatian striker ghosted-in in front of Carlos Cuellar and headed the ball into the bottom corner.
Villa lacked their usual potency on the counter-attack without Young and Agbonlahor and lone striker Marlon Harewood barley got a sight of goal.
After the break Hamburg nearly made it 3-0 but Marcell Jansen saw his 30-yard effort come back off the crossbar.
Villa then had an appeal for a penalty turned down when Craig Gardner looked to have been clattered by Hamburg goalkeeper Frank Rost.
The referee waved play on and Hamburg immediately broke to devastating effect. Joris Mathijsen picked out Olic with another pin-point long ball and the striker hammered another shot past Guzan.
Villa improved in the final 20 minutes and managed to get a goal back when Nathan Delfouneso deflected Moustapha Salifou's shot past Rost into the net.
In injury time Sidewell was shown a red card for a second bookable offence and Jansen hit the crossbar for the second time from the resulting free-kick.
Villa will hope to get back to winning ways when the competition resumes in the spring.