Aston Villa 3 Hull City 0
Villa continued their Champions League charge with a comfortable victory over Hull at Villa Park, writes Brendan McLoughlin.
Villa continued their Champions League charge with a comfortable victory over Hull at Villa Park, writes Brendan McLoughlin.
First-half strikes from Richard Dunne and James Milner put Villa two up at the break before substitute John Carew sealed the points with an 88th-minute penalty.
Martin O'Neill's men rarely looked troubled by the relegation-threatened Tigers and the victory completed a perfect week for the Villans after sealing their place in the Carling Cup semi-finals in midweek.
Villa could and should have been ahead within the opening minute when Luke Young raced through after a tidy one-two with Emile Heskey only to fire wide with just the keeper to beat.
O'Neill's men carved the visitors open at will and had another golden opportunity on eight when Ashley Young sent Heskey clean through but the forward dragged his shot horribly wide.
It took Villa just another five minutes to open the scoring, though, when Milner took full advantage of a gaping hole in the Hull defence to pick out the unmarked Dunne and the Irishman rocketed an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net.
The Tigers suffered an equally devastating blow soon afterwards when Jimmy Bullard was forced off after falling awkwardly in a challenge with Milner.
The injury was to the same knee which has plagued the talismanic midfielder in the past.
There was a further delay when Stephen Warnock required treatment for a blow to the head, however, the Villa left-back was able to continue.
O'Neill's side were unaffected by the disruptions, however, and made it 2-0 after 29 minutes with a brilliant but bizarre strike.
Tigers keeper Matt Duke appeared to have dealt with the danger when he charged off his line to head the ball into touch.
Unfortunately for Duke Villa sub Steve Sidwell was warming up on the touch line. He caught the ball, tossed it straight to Agbonlahor, his throw-in found Milner and he controlled before sending a sumptuous lob over the stranded Tigers stopper into the empty net.
Stewart Downing, handed his first Premier League start, was inches away from celebrating his first Villa Park goal on 42 when he picked up Stiliyan Petrov's lay-off on the edge of the Hull area and unleashed a shot which flew just over.
Kamil Zayatte's own goal separated the sides at the KC Stadium in January and the Hull defender almost put into his own net again in injury-time when he headed a Downing cross narrowly over his own bar.
The second half proved a bad-tempered affair with more bookings than goal action – a further four cautions to add to the two from the first period.
However, Villa survived scare just after the hour when Craig Fagan's 25-yard drive cannoned against the upright.
Carew was introduced for Heskey with 12 minutes remaining and the giant Norway striker made his mark two minutes from the end when he drilled home a penalty after Ashley Young had been poleaxed inside the box by Duke.
