Villa scramble to win away at Prague
John Carew knew little about his goal
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Thursday, 06, Nov 2008 10:44
A fortuitous John Carew goal was enough to give Aston Villa an important away win over Slavia Prague in the Uefa Cup.
Villa manager Martin O'Neill decided to rest key players like Gareth Barry, Nigel Reo-Coker, and Martin Laursen as he made six changes from the team that lost to Newcastle in the Premier League on Monday night.
It was a memorable night for replacement goalkeeper Brad Guzan, who made a number of excellent saves for Villa. The American youngster was called into action early as he made a fine double save from Jaroslav Cerny and Tomas Necid.
The new-look Villa took time to settle, but when they did they looked comfortable in possession and had the best player on the park in Ashley Young. The England youngster used his blistering pace to give Prague problems all night.
It was typical Young run on the left-wing which stretched the Prague defence and the ball eventually fell to Steve Sidwell who saw his shot take a wicked deflection off Carew which completely wrong-footed Martin Vaniak in the Prague goal.
Villa came close to doubling their lead towards the end of the first-half. First Young saw a brilliant free-kick come thundering back off the bar, Carew then saw a long distance shot beaten away by Vaniak.
It was one-way traffic in the second-half as Prague went all out for the equaliser, but unfortunately for them they came across an inspired Guzan in the Villa goal. The best of a number of good saves from 24-year-old was diving low save to stop a Marek Jarolim shot from inside the penalty area.
Despite continued Prague pressure, Villa managed to hold on for a win which sees them go top of Group F.