MOORE HITS THREE AS VILLA CRUISE PAST BORO

By Ryan Ghee
February 4 2006

Aston Villa ran riot at the Riverside Stadium, beating Middlesbrough by four goals with young striker Luke Moore grabbing his first ever senior hat-trick.

Moore opened the scoring with just 18 minutes on the clock and six minutes later, Kevin Phillips doubled the advantage with a neat header. Moore then sealed the game for Villa on the hour mark and completed the rout with his third goal two minutes later.

With Wednesday's draw against Chelsea still fresh in the minds of the Villa players, they put on a devastating display at the Riverside against a Middlesbrough side who have slumped to fourth from bottom in the League table.

After taking the game to their hosts in the opening exchanges, Villa deservedly took the lead 18 minutes in as Moore made the most of some static Boro defending by sliding the ball under Schwarzer following Samuel's assist.

Middlesbrough failed to react despite going a goal down and with just 24 minutes on the clock, Kevin Phillips scored his first goal since his return from injury to double Villa's advantage.

The striker lost his marker and met Milner's whipped delivery with a flicked header which flew inside the far post.

The home side looked shocked by Villa's start to the match and for the remainder of the half, other than a weak header from Cattermole which failed to trouble Sorensen, they didn't manage a telling effort on the Villa goal.

Steve McClaren , who is in the running for the England manager's job, made a double substitution at the break with Yakubu and Maccarone replacing the ineffective Viduka and Hasselbaink upfront.

However, the new Boro front-line partnership failed to trouble Villa at the back and with 62 minutes of the match gone, Moore grabbed his second goal of the afternoon to put the game beyond any doubt.

Following good work from Milner down the flank, Moore saw his initial effort blocked before stabbing the ball home to put the visitors three goals to the good.

Just two minutes after scoring his second, the 19-year-old striker completed his first ever senior hat-trick with a well executed chip.

Steven Davis provided the through ball to Moore who calmly chipped the ball past the helpless Mark Schwarzer in the Boro goal to give Villa a rare four-goal cushion.

With seven minutes of the game remaining, Juan Pablo Angel replaced the Villa hero who was met with a standing ovation from the visiting fans.

Middlesbrough's participation in the match was summed up in the dying seconds as Maccarone saw his late effort fly high and wide as Villa completed a comprehensive victory to move up to 12th in the Premiership table.