VILLA FALL TO FIRST PRE-SEASON DEFEAT

By Ryan Ghee
July 31 2005

Aston Villa slipped to their first pre-season defeat as a poor opening twenty minutes proved to be very costly at Molineux.

After a very cagey opening from both teams, it was Villa who nearly opened the scoring when Barry drilled a left foot drive into the side netting. A minute later, Villa had another great chance but Angel and Barry got in each others way and the chance was wasted.
It was the hosts who broke the deadlock and it came when Carl Cort tapped in Naylor's cross from close range on 16 minutes. Two minutes later, Villa found themselves 2-0 down when Carl Cort turned provider for Olofinjana who cooly slotted the ball past Sorensen.
Villa were clearly rattled by the two quick-fire goals and they were lucky not to be three goals down when Sorensen was forced to push away the shot of Seol. Five minutes later, Wolves came close yet again but Nobby Solano somehow managed to hook Lescott's header off the line.
It wasn't until the half-hour mark that Villa started to get back into the match and after 32 minutes, Kevin Phillips powered a header past former Villa keeper Michael Oakes to reduce the defecit to just one goal.
Up until the interval it was Villa who looked most likely to score again but Michael Oakes brilliantly saved from Angel and Phillips, and Barry saw his effort fly into the stands.
David O'Leary made just one change at half-time with De La Cruz replacing Samuel in defence.
The start of the second half was very lively as Cort forced a save from Sorensen after 47 minutes and two minutes later, Angel was again denied by Michael Oakes.
Five minutes later, in the 52nd minute, Solano came close to grabbing an equaliser for Villa but his curling free-kick was pushed to safety.
On the hour mark, Villa started to look shakey again as Sorensen had to deny both Cort and Kennedy. The save from Kennedy was possibly the save of the match as Sorensen scrambled across his line before tipping the ball wide of the upright.
In the final stages, Villa didn't look like scoring an equaliser and their final chance came when Solano headed wide from Barry's corner with three minutes left.
Villa failed to create any more chances and Wolves held firm for a creditable win.

After the match, speaking to Aston Villa's official website, David O'Leary said, "It wasn't a great performance...We've got to improve and I know we will improve...We are slowly geeting back into the routine of playing games and hopefully we'll be ready for the Bolton game on August 13."