O'Leary: We Made Hard Work Of It

Last updated : 04 December 2003 By Paul Doherty
"We made hard work of it. We started well and could have scored several more goals before we got the fluke in our favour," O'Leary said after the 3-0 win put Villa into the quarter finals and a mouth-watering tie against Chelsea at home later this month.

"We've not had one like that this season and I would like a few more where it really matters in the Premiership.

"But after that we struggled a bit and Palace were the better team for periods and Thomas Sorensen made some solid saves at important times.

"We ran out comfortable winners at the end and the objective beforehand was to get into the next round and to score some goals and we achieved that.

"But give Crystal Palace some praise because they made a real game of it."