"We played well," the Irishman said, "full credit to the players. It was a great effort by them because they were tired. Without a doubt we deserved to win, but we should have won by more in the end." As it panned out they won by a solitary goal, Milan Baros wisely deciding to show more decisiveness from the penalty spot than he did in the barbers when asked, 'is it ok?' and stroking home with eight minutes left. Former Villain Steve Watson was the guilty party, handballing Gareth Barry's quick free-kick just six minutes after he had produced a better turn when he headed past the hapless Stuart Taylor.
"We made a good start to the second half then sat back a bit and gave away a silly goal," was O'Leary's reserved view. "But we settled back down and scored again." Steven Davis grabbed a deserved opener two minutes after half-time, intercepting Neil Clement's lacklustre pass in midfield and sparking a flowing move that ended with James Milner looping a cross for the Northern Irishman to head in.