O’Neill to step up Dunne chase as Villa floor Fulham

ASTON VILLA manager Martin O’Neill is still trying to sign Manchester City defender Richard Dunne and will step up his attempts to bolster his squad in the next 48 hours.

O’Neill was speaking after he watched his side secure a 2-0 victory over Fulham at Villa Park yesterday, courtesy of a first-half own-goal by defender John Pantsil and Gabriel Agbonlahor’s first goal of the season.

“As regards Richard Dunne, I have been concentrating on the game today and have not seen our chief executive,” said O’Neill. “But I’m going to utilise the time available between now and (tomorrow).”

The Villa boss hailed the performance of rookie defender Ciaran Clark, the England U19 captain thrown in at the deep end after Curtis Davies had failed to recover from his recurring shoulder problem.

The youngster, a product of the club’s youth policy, did not put a foot wrong as Villa registered their first home league win of the campaign.

O’Neill said: “I thought Clark did really fine. Unfortunately Curtis has suffered a recurrence of the shoulder problem and will see a specialist in midweek.”

“Clark took it in his stride when I told him he was going to be playing. He looked around as if he kind of expected it. ! “I believe he took a lot of confidence from pre-season when he stepped into the side for the Peace Cup and did very well. “I think it was in his mind today that if he could cope with top European players, albeit in a pre-season tournament, then he could cope today.”

Fulham manager Roy Hodgson refused to blame his side’s midweek trip to Russia for a Europa League qualifier for his side’s poor performance.

He said: “It was a very poor performance from us. The ridiculous goal we gave away after three minutes did not help matters against a very determined and aggressive Villa team.

“It was not the most intelligent thing to do, to put us on the back foot straight from the start.

“We played a bit more like what I would expect in the second half but when the second goal goes in, that leaves you with a mountain to climb.

“We can’t choose the excuse of tiredness from playing in Russia on Thursday. We have to find the energy and do better in games.

“We did not show enough energy against Chelsea last week and it was the same today. We have to work hard in training to sort that out and to defend better as a unit.”

ASTON VILLA: Friedel, Beye, Cuellar, Clark, Shorey, Petrov, Milner, Sidwell, Reo-Coker (Carew 72), Ashley Young, Agbonlahor.

FULHAM: Schwarzer, Pantsil, Hughes, Hangeland, Konchesky, Dempsey, Kamara, Greening, Etuhu, Duff, Nevland (Eddie Johnson 75).

Referee: Steve Bennett (Kent).