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Middlesbrough 0 Aston Villa 3 - Match Report
By Mark Staniforth November 26 2007
Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa underlined the reason why their manager elected to snub England this week with a strong and purposeful performance to breeze past woeful Middlesbrough. John Carew grabbed Villa's opener in first-half injury time and Olof Mellberg and Gabriel Agbonlahor completed the rout as Villa increased their Barclays Premier League momentum.
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By contrast Middlesbrough were dreadful and apart from two chances for Stewart Downing they offered next to nothing and now look set for a long winter battling against the drop.

Scott Carson was given the chance to quickly atone for his midweek England blunder as he kept his place in the Aston Villa starting line-up for the Barclays Premier League trip to Middlesbrough.

O'Neill could also name striker Agbonlahor in his starting XI despite the striker missing the England Under-21 clash with Portugal due to a knee injury.

Southgate had influential defender Jonathan Woodgate back after a hamstring strain for a game which could end with his side dropping into the relegation zone if other results conspired against them.

Predictably, Carson was roundly booed onto the pitch by the home fans and did not exactly improve matters with his first touch seconds after kick-off, when he horribly sliced an innocuous back-pass from Zat Knight.

Boro forced their first corner in the second minute after George Boateng's fine up-field ball had briefly threatened to put through Downing, but the set-piece was wasted by Adam Johnson.

Carson almost spectacularly fluffed his lines again in the seventh minute when Downing broke into the left side of the box and hit a shot which squirmed under the keeper and flashed just across the face of goal.

But Carson's generosity apart, Boro seldom looked like breaking deadlock as they threatened to extend their poor attacking record of just three goals in their last six matches.

Instead it was the visitors who came closest in the 14th minute when Agbonlahor cleverly turned David Wheater in the Boro box but his shot zipped across goal past the stretching fingertips of Mark Schwarzer.

Johnson created a chance for Boro in the 23rd minute when he cut in from the left flank and crossed low towards Jeremie Aliadiere in front of goal only for Knight to slide in with a crucial interception.

After Carson's early hesitancy it was his opposite number Mark Schwarzer's turn to almost make a mess of things on the half hour when he hit an attempted clearance straight to Carew, who was hustled off his shot by Woodgate.

Woodgate then had to deflect a dangerous Ashley Young cross inches over his own crossbar as Villa threatened to take the initiative in a match which always threatened to turn into a gruelling stalemate.

Their opener duly arrived in first half injury time when Barry delivered a fine cross from the left and Carew swivelled past Wheater in the box before steering the ball home past Schwarzer.

HT Middlesbrough 0 Aston Villa 1

Villa eased further ahead two minutes after the break when Lee Cattermole made an almighty mess of an attempted clearance on the edge of the box and instead sliced the ball to the feet of Olof Mellberg.

The grateful central defender coolly trapped the ball eight yards from goal before poking it right-footed past the helpless Schwarzer to put the visitors well and truly in control.

Southgate, woefully short on true attacking options, made a midfield change in the 53rd minute when he replaced Cattermole with Fabio Rochemback in a desperate bid to claw something back.

But instead Villa went further ahead in the 58th minute and it was a delicious moment for Carson, who could claim an improbable assist after booting a giant goal-kick which dropped in the Boro box.

There, Agbonlahor used his strength to hold off the attentions of Woodgate and sweep a left-foot shot which Schwarzer could not stop squirting into the net.

That was the signal for many Boro fans to start heading for the exits after yet another below-par performance which is bound to heap more pressure on the beleaguered Southgate.

In fact it was a sign of Boro's failings up front that their most persistent goal threat was coming from full-back O'Neil, who lashed another long-range effort just wide of target in the 72nd minute.

Boro seemed resigned to their fate although they did manage to test Carson nine minutes from time through Downing's low drive which the keeper did well to turn around his post.

Villa almost grabbed a deserved fourth four minutes from time when Agbonlahor counter-attacked strongly and shot past Schwarzer only to see his effort clatter the base of the post.

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