GARETH Barry gave the strongest indication yet that he is committed to Aston Villa by playing and scoring in their Uefa Cup second qualifying round first leg win against FH Hafnarfjordur in Iceland.
In front of watching England coach Fabio Capello in Reykjavik, Barry – whose appearance means he would be cup-tied in the Champions League should he move to Liverpool – capitalised on some terrible defending to stab Villa's opener in the fourt
h minute.
Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor also scored first-half goals at the Laugardal-svollur Stadium and although Matthias Gudmundsson pulled one back, Martin Laursen's second-half header secured Martin O'Neill's side a comfortable lead for Villa Park.
O'Neill said later: "Barry was in the right frame of mind and wanted to play. Nothing would have stopped him so that is pleasing. I have no idea what will happen between now and the end of August.
"He knew the consequences of playing tonight so the decision was very much his."
When Hafnarfjordur failed to clear a corner in the early stages, Barry pounced. Young whipped the ball back into the box and some calamitous defending left Barry with a simple task to power the ball past goalkeeper Gunnar Sigurdsson from close range.
Young quickly made it 2-0 with a delightful individual effort. Finding himself in space on the left, he moved inside unopposed before turning a defender and sidefooting the ball in off the post to double the lead after six minutes.
For the third goal, Agbonlahor charged forward and rounded two defenders before beating Sigurdsson. Hafnarfjordur then got the goal they deserved as Matthias Gudmundsson headed home.
But Villa went 4-1 ahead in the 63rd minute when Laursen found himself in space to nod home a corner from the influential Young.
FH Hafnarfjordur: Gunnar Sigurdsson, Eiriksson, Bjorn Sverrisson, Valgardsson, Nielsen, Gudnason, Vidarsson, Siim, Vihjalmsson, Matthias Gudmundsson, Tryggvi Gudmundsson. Subs: Larusson, Bjarnason, Asgeirsson, Gardarsson, Saevarsson, Hallfredsson, Birkir Sverrisson.
Aston Villa: Friedel, Gardner, Davies, Laursen, Shorey, Reo-Coker, Petrov, Barry, Ashley Young, Harewood, Agbonlahor. Subs: Taylor, Delfouneso, Knight, Salifou, Routledge, Osbourne, Baker.
Referee: R Matejek (Czech Rep).
The full article contains 368 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
