Martin O'Neill urged to give Aston Villa understudies another chance

Dec 14 2008

”I wouldn’t say it’s a missed opportunity and I wouldn’t single people out.

“It’s a team performance and we lost. We had the chances to win and we never took them. Overall maybe it wasn’t one of our better games, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles.”

Gardner himself spurned a string of late chances against the Slovakians as Villa’s second-half onslaught failed to bring an equaliser.

But the Bodymoor Heath academy graduate is remaining philosophical about it and just wants to put things right in Hamburg.

“There was one where the keeper pulled off a good save,” Garnder said. “The second one, I should have scored the header and the other one hit the post. Any other day I could have scored a hat-trick.

“But, never mind, we’re through and I’ve just got to make sure that if I’m given a chance in Germany I take it.”

Meanwhile, Villa could face a gruelling fixture double-whammy when the last 32 stage of the UEFA Cup ticks round in February.

If Villa do win or finish second in their group they could be forced to play away on the evening of Thursday, 19.

Just two days later they are scheduled to host Chelsea in the Premier League, with the fixture also being considered for a noon kick off for live television coverage. That could mean them lining up for an important league game against Luiz Felipe Scolari’s title-chasers just 38 hours after they leave the field in an away UEFA Cup tie – with a flight home thrown in for good measure.

Because of Chelsea’s Champions League commitments the following week there is the strong possibility that the Saturday game cannot be put back because the premier European competition takes precedence.

But if Villa are drawn to play on a Wednesday instead of a Thursday, or Chelsea are handed a Wednesday match rather than a Tuesday, the problem will be eliminated.

The draws for the knock-out stages of the UEFA Cup and Champions League will be made in Switzerland on Friday morning.