Heskey on target as Villa sneak victory
Martin O'Neill's sees his side movie into second place for 24 hours at least
Also In The News
|
Tottenham have completed the signing of Pascal Chimbonda from Sunderland for an undisclosed fee, just six months after the defender left White Hart Lane for the Wearside club. |  |
Tuesday, 27, Jan 2009 10:45
Emile Heskey scored on his Aston Villa debut to give Martin O’Neill’s side a 1-0 win over Portsmouth at Fratton Park.
The England striker signed from Wigan for £3.5 million last week and wasted no time in opening his Villa account when he opened the scoring in the 21st minute.
A long ball through the middle was flicked on by Heskey’s strike partner Gabriel Agbonlahor, and the 31-year-old capitalised on some hesitant defending to fire past David James.
Agbonlahor should then have made it two but he fired wide when one-on-one with James.
Glen Johnson and debutant Hayden Mullins saw shots go wide as Tony Adams’ side attempted to force their way back into the game.
It could have been worse for the home side when Nadir Belhadj was lucky to stay on the pitch after a high tackle on Craig Gardner, receiving only a yellow card.
Portsmouth came out with all guns blazing in the second-half and bombarded the Villa defence forcing 17 corners in total but just couldn’t get the ball in the back of the net.
Peter Crouch missed their best opportunity stabbing wide from five yards when set-up by another Pompey debutant Jermaine Pennant.
Portsmouth wasn’t helped when they were reduced to ten men in controversial circumstances.
Again Belhadj was in the thick of it and he saw a second-yellow card when he threw they ball away when referee Peter Walton failed to spot a blatant handball by Carlos Cuellar.
But Villa held on for a victory which moves them level on points with Liverpool for 24 hours at least.