O’Leary hails returning Phillips after stunning winner

Birmingham 0 Aston Villa 1

O’Leary was forced to press a less-than-fully-fit Phillips into action after his calf injury with Milan Baros ruled out because of his achilles problem and Juan Pablo Angel jet-lagged after returning from World Cup action in with Colombia in Paraguay.

But the former Southampton striker produced a deadly finish mid-way through the first half to halt Blues’ run of six games without defeat in the Second City derby.

O’Leary admitted: “I’ve been trying to get Kevin Phillips for two years. I wanted to sign Thomas Sorensen, Gavin McCann and Kevin but from Sunderland in the summer of 2003 but only had a certain amount of money to get the two.

“I know what a good little professional he is. For only £750,000 from Southampton, he is a great player to have in your team, in your squad. He is a good professional and over the season he will get his goals.”

O’Leary believes Villa’s defensive resilience was a key reason for their victory and after the game he ran across the pitch and clenched a fist towards chairman Doug Ellis, the other board members and his family in delight.

“I had family and members of the board in the directors box. There were people there like the chairman, who has taken a lot of stick this week and been very ill, Steve Stride (operations director) and people who have been good to work with.

“I could see the smiles on their faces and I was pleased for them. It was a good win. I am delighted for the supporters and the players and I’m delighted for everyone within Aston Villa.

“As I’ve been saying, if we defend better, we’ll have a better chance of doing better in these games. We did that in this game for the first time because when you play Birmingham they are very direct.”

O’Leary was also pleased for ‘keeper Thomas Sorensen who had made two costly errors in last season’s two derbies and who played after overcome a hamstring injury.

“The difference from the two games last season was that our ‘keeper hasn’t chucked a ball in the net. The ‘keeper deserves big credit.

“There was a little rumour going around the place of ‘would he fancy the game?’ He took himself off the other night for Denmark to make sure he was right for this game.”

Blues manager Steve Bruce conceded that Birmingham are now facing a relegation battle and they have collected just one point from a possible 15 at St Andrews this season.

“We know now with our form at home that it is going to be a long hard winter. That’s for sure. We’ll prepare again on Monday, start again, try and not feel sorry ourselves and be ready for what will now definitely be a scrap.”

Opta Fact: Birmingham have taken just one point from their five home league games this term.

Opta Fact: This was Villa’s first Premiership win over Birmingham at the seventh attempt.

BIRMINGHAM: Maik Taylor, Tebily, Martin Taylor, Upson, Clapham (Dunn 67), Pennant, Johnson, Clemence (Jarosik 39), Gray, Heskey, Pandiani (Forssell 45).

ASTON VILLA: Sorensen, Hughes, Mellberg, Ridgewell, Bouma, Milner, Davis, Bakke (Djemba-Djemba 84), Barry (Berger 66), Moore, Phillips (Angel 64).

Referee: G Poll (Hertfordshire).