James Milner kept Aston Villa’s hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League alive by scoring a contentious penalty in a 1-0 derby win over Birmingham City yesterday.
The England midfielder scored from the spot seven minutes from time after City’s Roger Johnson was ruled to have brought down Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor in the box.
Birmingham were incensed by referee Martin Atkinson’s decision, however, and replays indicated that Johnson had won the ball.
PHOTO: AFP
Villa are now level on points with fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, who currently occupy the last Champions League place on offer to English clubs, although thy have played one game more and have an inferior goal-difference.
“I can understand their frustration because they played well, but that’s happened a lot to us this season,” Villa manager Martin O’Neill told Sky Sports afterwards. “If they’re disputing the decision there’s no dispute about it because it’s a penalty kick. I’ve seen it back since and it’s a penalty.”
Birmingham boss Alex McLeish, who saw his side denied a goal several times by Villa goalkeeper Brad Friedel, unsurprisingly had a different view of Atkinson’s decision, although Birmingham remained ninth despite the loss.
“It was a great tackle, simple,” said McLeish, who as Rangers manager opposed O’Neill in the Glasgow derby when the latter was in charge of Celtic.
“Viewers all over the world have seen it and it was a bad mistake by the referee. It was a terrific performance by my players and I thought we deserved to win it, let alone losing to a controversial penalty. It’s like [Stoke manager] Tony Pulis said this morning, the bigger teams seem to get the big decisions. I’m sorry Martin, I’d have to disagree with you — if that’s a penalty, there would be 40 a game,” McLeish said.
On Saturday, Ryan Giggs scored two penalties as reigning champions Manchester United returned to the top of the Premier League with a 3-1 win over Tottenham Hotspur at Old Trafford.
Spurs stayed fourth in the table and in the final Champions League qualifying spot on offer to English clubs, after arch-rivals Arsenal did them a favor by holding Manchester City to a goalless draw at the Emirates in Saturday’s late kick-off.
City closed to within a point of Spurs, but will be without Shay Given for the rest of the season after the Irish goalkeeper dislocated his shoulder while making a save.
“Shay’s injury will be a problem,” City manager Roberto Mancini told the club’s official Web site. “It’s not good for us because Shay is a fantastic goalkeeper. He is important to us, but in football you can always get injured.”
At the other end of the table, West Ham United moved six points clear of the relegation zone with a come-from-behind 3-2 home win over Wigan Athletic.
The Hammers were 1-0 down in just the fourth minute after Jonathan Spector’s own-goal, but were back on level terms when in-form striker Araujo Ilan turned in Carlton Cole’s cross in the 31st minute.
The east Londoners took the lead when Radoslav Kovac followed-up on the stroke of halftime after Mark Noble’s 25m free-kick was clawed away by Chris Kirkland.
Wigan saw Hugo Rodallega equalize from an early second-half corner.
However, Scott Parker eased the pressure on Hammers boss Gianfranco Zola with a 23m drive in the 77th minute.
Hull City were all but relegated after Sunderland won 1-0 at the KC Stadium thanks to Darren Bent’s seventh minute tap-in, his 25th goal of the season.
The Tigers, six points adrift with two games to play and a hugely inferior goal-difference, could have equalized before halftime, but Jimmy Bullard’s penalty hit the post.
Both sides received a red card late in the first half after Hull’s US striker Jozy Altidore and Sunderland’s Alan Hutton clashed.
Aruna Dindane scored twice as already relegated Portsmouth came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 away at Bolton Wanderers, while Wolverhampton Wanderers, still not mathematically sure of a spot in the Remier League next season, and Blackburn Rovers drew 1-1 at Molineux.
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