Taylor says it's all to play for

Aston Villa manager Graham Taylor is adamant there is all to play for still in their Intertoto Cup semi-final tie with Lille.

Villa grabbed an away goal with seven minutes to play through Ian Taylor in France last night but Fernando D’Amico equalised at the death to set up the return leg at Villa Park on August 7 nicely.

Taylor said: “The result was not too important. The tie is played over two games and we have another game next week. They are a good team and have done very well in recent times.”

Moroccan midfielder Mustapha Hadji conceded the team were still a little ring-rusty after their summer holiday and added: “It is a satisfying result tonight. We got an away goal and will now be concentrating on next week’s match.

“This is our third competitive game of the season and we are not quite there physically yet.”

Villa nearly got off to a dream start after just four minutes when Peter Crouch found the back of the net.

But the goal was disallowed after the assistant referee adjudged the ball to have already gone out of play before Thomas Hitzlsperger’s right-wing cross came in.

Lille finally found their way into the game and had their first effort on goal thanks to a Philippe Brunel free-kick but goalkeeper Stefan Postma, making his debut in place of the injured Peter Enckelman, dealt with it comfortably.

The French side looked a little short of ideas following the departure of Bruno Cheyrou to Liverpool and Pascal Cygan to Arsenal, and it was Brunel who provided most of their inspiration.

The 29-year-old attacking midfielder should have given the hosts the lead after 33 minutes but his lob drifted wide of the upright.

Marcus Allback looked dangerous in tandem with Crouch and missed a great opportunity to open the scoring 10 minutes before the interval but, after a fine run and cross from Jlloyd Samuel, the Sweden international failed to get a shot in on target.

The final action of the half saw Brunel firing just wide after Postma had rushed off his line to deny Mile Sterjovski.

And it was Villa who were on the attack immediately after the break when Allback dragged a left-foot shot just wide of the target only three minutes in, after linking up well with Crouch.

Sterjovski went close for the home side in the 51st minute when he raced onto a through ball from D’Amico, but could only find the side netting.

Villa were next to go close, but Gregory Wimbee in the Lille goal had no trouble saving Hitzlsperger’s 68th minute free-kick.

In the 83rd minute Villa got the breakthrough they had been looking for.

Olof Mellberg connected well with a corner from Hitzlsperger but saw his header parried by Wimbee, and Taylor pounced to poke the ball home.

That was the spur Lille needed as they pushed forward for the equaliser and they forced two good saves from Postma.

In the dying moments D’Amico latched onto Hector Tapia’s free-kick, slotting the ball past Postma to leave the second leg finely poised.