Downing shows up Villa boo-boys

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish was proud of the way Stewart Downing shrugged off booing from Aston Villa fans to help his side to victory.

The Reds won 2-0 at Villa Park thanks to first-half goals from Martin Skrtel and Craig Bellamy in a game punctuated by jeers toward former Villans man Downing.

Dalglish said: “I think it’s sad. They’d have been better off giving their support to their own players, because it wasn’t going to upset Stewart.”

“He was excellent, so obviously it worked.”

As for his side’s comfortable win, Dalglish praised the performance of his players in securing a crucial three points in their chase for Champions League football.

“I think we got most things right. We’ve had a shutout, scored two goals, we’ve increased our goal tally, we’ve increased our points tally,” Dalglish said.

“And we’ve increased the number of times we’ve hit the woodwork as well.”

“I think they were a wee bit fortunate with the first (goal), we got a bit of a break at the corner, it fell for Craig and he just tapped it in. It was a good corner and the header for the second one.”

“I think we did have a lot of chances in the game. That’s what we’re there for we’re there to create them and one day we’re going to finish them off. We never did it.”

“It never quite seems as comfortable as it is standing on the side-line, but to their credit they didn’t want to lose a goal either.”

“As well as scoring them they don’t like losing them.”

Villa boss Alex McLeish said he was disappointed with his side’s defending from set pieces.

“(I’m) very disappointed. We allowed players free runs and it causes havoc. It’s something we have to address,” McLeish said.

“Again on the training ground I think we were happy and we seemed to be ok in the last few games.”

“I need to look at that very closely, starting tomorrow.”

McLeish had to make do without top scorers Darren Bent and Gabriel Agbonlahor against Liverpool, the duo missing through injury and suspension respectively.

“Without doubt we lacked that cutting edge losing two of our top players. I’m sure Liverpool would find it the same if they lost Suarez,” he said.

“It’s difficult and where we’ve got a lot of youngsters we’re going through a period of transition trying to stabilise things a little bit. That made it tougher for us.”

“It’s always a challenge. Sometimes the determination and the will can overcome the skill which Liverpool had in abundance and in the end too much nous and experience for us.”