City lack confidence - Cox

Manchester City assistant manager Arthur Cox was disappointed that his side only managed a share of the spoils from their Premiership clash at Aston Villa.

A late goal from City defender Sylvain Distin cancelled out a first-half effort from Juan Pablo Angel and moved the Blues four points clear of the relegation zone.

But Cox, again deputising for back-injury victim Kevin Keegan, felt that his side deserved to notch up only their third League victory since November 1.

He said: “It was a good point but I’m very disappointed we didn’t take all three. I thought our performance over the 90 minutes merited a win.

“In the first half we had the ball on the floor in their penalty area half a dozen times and we should have taken more advantage of that.

“I think we lacked a bit of confidence in and around the 18-yard box with people preferring to pass the ball to someone in a worse position rather than going on and having a shot themselves.

“But I hope the two draws we have just managed against Fulham and Villa give us a little more confidence to go into the Easter period.”

City decided to leave out their first-choice strike duo of Nicolas Anelka and Robbie Fowler and instead pair together John Macken and Paolo Wanchope.

Cox said: “It was a joint decision between myself and Kevin to leave out Anelka and Fowler.

“We created and made a lot of problems for Fulham last week when we put John and Paolo on together so we decided to start with them today.

“John and Paolo are also a little bit better in the air than the other two so our football was a bit more varied than it normally is.”

Keegan is expected to be back at work this week and Cox will welcome his return for the Easter programme.

He said: “He is improving, he is due back Tuesday or Wednesday and the sooner the better. I mean that sincerely.”

Angel was a surprise inclusion in the Villa side after only arriving back from a World Cup qualifier for Colombia in Peru late on Friday after a 34-hour round flight.

The former River Plate player lasted 45 minutes and it was sufficient for him to notch his 21st goal of the campaign.

Villa assistant boss Roy Aitken said: “He got back in the country on Friday after the game had finished in the early hours of Thursday morning our time.

“He got a flight back straight away and had less than 40 hours to recover for the game. He felt by half-time that he had given his lot.

“He was exhausted and there was no use in him going back on but he did his job in the time he was on the pitch.

“It was a bonus to have him and Ulises de la Cruz, who had been playing for Ecuador against Argentina, because we did not think either would be available today.”

Aitken was disappointed at Villa’s inability to win at home again and they have dropped seven points out of a possible nine from the last three games at Villa Park.

He said: “I was more frustrated than disappointed. We didn’t play well at all today. We had set certain standards at Charlton and didn’t repeat those.

“We’ve been disappointed with the last two home games against Blackburn and now Manchester City but I have to be honest and say a draw today was a fair result.”