Five-star Villa increase Blues' relegation fears
Sunday, 20 Apr 2008 20:59
John Carew has bagged 12 goals this season
Birmingham City's hopes of survival have been dented after being thumped 5-1 by
Aston Villa at Villa Park.
The home side demolished their local rivals thanks to braces from Ashley Young and John Carew.
Gabriel Agbonlahor completed the rout for Martin O'Neill's side while Mikael Forsell grabbed the consolation for the Blues.
Alex McLeish's side finish the weekend in the drop zone, a point behind
Reading and
Bolton Wanderers, while Villa climb to sixth spot.
The Blues' strategy of playing Mauro Zarate as a lone striker resulted in them creating few chances.
Villa, who have now scored 15 goals in their last three games, dominated from the outset with Carew heading a corner over the bar and Gareth Barry lashing a snap-shot inches wide.
Their possession was rewarded on 28 minutes when Young collected Olof Mellberg's mis-hit pass and fired a stunning effort into the bottom corner.
McLeish's side nearly hit back minutes later when Mehdi Nafti jinked past two players and unleashed a piledriver that flew narrowly over the bar.
Villa continued their free-flowing attacking play and made it 2-0 three minutes before the break when Young's free-kick was nodded in by an unmarked Carew from six yards out.
The home side continued to bombard the Blues' goal in the second half and scored their third when Barry unselfishly squared the ball to Carew, who tapped into an empty net on 53 minutes.
In front of England boss Fabio Capello, Young grabbed his second ten minutes later when he twisted past two players and poked in the rebound after his first shot was parried by Maik Taylor.
Substitute Forsell, on for the ineffective Zarate, gave the visitors something to cheer about when he finished off a slick passive move to make it 4-1.
But Villa capped off a memorable day on 78 minutes when Agbonlahor pounced on a blunder from Liam Ridgewell and stroked the ball home, to give O'Neill's side their biggest derby win in 20 years.