That shows we've got a set of balls. It's not very often we've recovered from a blow like that so quickly and so emphatically. We've had to get ourselves back in the game there with no time left at all. It was a very, very good result for us to get full stop, let alone after being pegged back so undeservedly.
I am slightly concerned that we were hanging on at the end when we should have steamrollered them but the sharpness is going to come. Villa are whinging about the refereeing at the end. It was a foul. It just is! It was a bodycheck and he left the leg stuck out, it's a foul. And it was great to see it fly into the top corner like that as well.
It was no more than we deserved after total dominance for 90 minutes. Villa are seriously poor and they are going to be mid table mediocrity again in my view. I hope so anyway. I can't stand Martin O'Neill. Aided by the hapless Petrov, we took a stranglehold on the game from about the 15 minute mark and we ran them ragged all the way up until half time. Torres should have scored but at least we didn't regret it. He looked sharp enough. The goals will come. Kuyt did well to get back in there and Laursen rifled it in. No idea what he was thinking, but I'll get over it.
The second half was more even but we did well enough to cope with the pressure Villa exerted. Carra defended brilliantly - I don't care if he gave the penalty away, his defending was top notch and he was my man of the match. Only Young looked like he would give problems and we had our hands full.
Babel came on for Pennant (before he got sent off!) and looked very, very dangerous with a mixture of pace, strength and a direct attitude. I've had my doubts about him so far. I was very impressed today, I thought he was excellent when he came on.
The Villa goal was a penalty - no arguments from me. It's unfortunate but it's a penalty. It sums Villa up really - scrappy and fortunate. That nasty diver Barry, who I now have no respect for, slotted it away and it looked like another 2 points dropped against an abject team, but thankfully Gerrard pulled it out the hat.
It wasn't always great but it's a win and we needed that badly. On to Toulouse, where we need a good strong performance.
Premiership Rugby 23/24 - Round 16
