TUESDAY NIGHT PREMIERSHIP REVIEW
From the bottom three to the top six in the space of 23 days - that's the measure of Aston Villa's impressive progress under David O'Leary, who reckons they deserved the stroke of luck which produced their latest win.
Darius Vassell knew little or nothing about his winning goal which went in off his chest following an attempted Pompey clearance. Not that O'Leary was concerned about the fortunate nature of the goal which took Villa's recent points haul to 13 from five games.
The Villa boss said: "It took a very fluky goal to win it but I thought the best team won the game.
Things are going well and, in the case of teams on a good run, sometimes you get a little bit of luck. It's a nice habit to have. We deserved it.
"I saw a bit of tiredness amongst our players at half time. We became very tired in the second half. They played a big game on Sunday which really took a lot out of them. The same players, with a couple of exceptions, had to go out again and perform.
"Maybe the players will start getting a bit of belief and realise that you might have to dig in and pressure and you might get fluky goals along the way like the one we got. We drove on and got the goal at the end and I am delighted with the three points. It's about time we had a goal like that."
Pompey must have thought they had earned a point when Yakubu Ayegbini cancelled out Juan Pablo Angel's first half opener, his 14th goal of the season, with a headed goal of his own before Lady Lucky smiled on Villa for Vassell's 83rd minute winner.
Villa skipper Olof Mellberg said: "When you are on a good run, you can get the results. We all felt so tired on Sunday and some of the players have had a very hard time. We are up to sixth which is amazing. We knew we had a good run in us like the current one, which could get us into the top half of the table."
In a complete reversal of fortunes, Portsmouth have gone from top three to bottom six and Harry Redknapp could not hide his disappointment and frustration after yet another defeat.
The Pompey boss said: "Everything was a bit down in the dressing room afterwards but you've got to take the positives. We didn't deserve to lose. But that winning goal shows what happens when you are getting no luck. I couldn't ask any more from the boys in terms of effort.
"We've played Villa twice. We beat them 2-1 at our place and lost 2-1 here. There is nothing between the teams but they are sixth in the league. There are a lot of good things to take out of this game despite the scoreline so we have got to keep going.
"If we keep going like that, then we won't be relegated. We'll be okay. There is nothing in this league to scare you apart from the big boys at the top. I'm very confident things will be fine."
