Villa & Saints tangled in Webb- trapped in 5th/6th
By James
May 12 2004
There were two major talking points after Aston Villa and Southampton had battled hard for a 1-1 draw down in the South coast. As usual the spotlight fell on the referee after a bizarre decision to award a suspect penalty to Villa. The other, of course, was a small matter of the Champions League.

The race for fourth spot is now out of Villa’s reach, despite not being mathematically impossible it is realistically.

Juan Pablo Angel was once again the man on the Villa score sheet as he grabbed yet another one in his ever increasing tally of 23 goals for the season. This strike came courtesy of a very generous penalty by the South Yorkshire referee – Howard Webb.

There appeared to be nothing wrong when Villa swung in a corner around five minutes before the interlude; however Webb was instantly to his whistle. Everyone in the ground assumed it would be a Southampton free-kick as there were no Villa appeals, however great bemusement was evident as Webb pointed to the spot. After much debating, as is the nature of the game in this day and age, the penalty was taken and placed well into the corner by Colombian Juan Pablo Angel.

It is hard to tell even after many T.V replays from various angels whether the penalty should have been given or not, however Webb must have just been looking very closely and decided to reward Villa thanks to his great care and attention to detail. Southampton’s Norwegian International defender Claus Lundekvam was definitely very close to Juan Pablo Angel and was the alleged culprit, although it could also be perceived that Villa’s own Liam Ridgewell may have impeded Angel.

The joy did not last long for Villa although, as they were met by an instant reply and Webb was - arguably - let off from his earlier dubious decision as another greeted the game. On this occasion Kevin Phillips was allowed to be picked out in the middle of the 18 yard box unmarked. With Villa attempting to play the offside trap, the Assistant referee clearly did not notice this effort to try and out-fox Southampton as he let the goal stand. Therefore in just over five minutes the score and dubious decisions were both level once again.

HALFTIME – Southampton 1 Villa 1

Ex-Portsmouth man Peter Crouch entered St. Mary’s to a chorus of boos mid-way through the second half. Pompey are not exactly the most loved team around these parts to say the least. The Rodney Trotter look-alike had a superb chance to gain Villa an advantage as Lee Hendrie presented him with a free header; however he placed it straight at Antti Niemi in the Saints goal.

Angel continued to try and bring Champions League glory to Villa single handedly as he had two good chances, both coming from headers. The ever improving Ulises De La Cruz crossed twice for the Colombian International; however he could not find that touch of class from his head which he had been used to so often this season from his boots.

Villa gave it all they had in the second half however a goal just would not come and as neighbours Blues managed to get stuffed 3-0 at home to Liverpool it meant that Villa cannot finish up in fourth place unless Liverpool lose their last game against Newcastle and Villa win by about 10-0. This is a feat which is even just about beyond David O’Leary, despite the Irishman working miracles this season by turning a fairly average Villa team into superstars, a victory of that margin does seem a little too much to ask.

The ever faithful traveling Claret and Blue army can be pleased on the whole as at the beginning of the season the only thing they believed Villa would be challenging for was to consolidate their place in the Premiership.

A distinct turnaround in away form provided Villa with a great basis to go on a good run of form and this has continued as they now find themselves 8 games unbeaten going into the last game of the season in fifth spot and looking for a UEFA cup place.

An out of sorts Manchester United is the final task of the season for David O’Leary’s men and with the FA Cup final approaching O’Leary will be hoping that Sir Alex Ferguson rests a few of his remaining stars.

FULLTIME – Southampton 1 Villa 1

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