Weimann earns McLeish praise

Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish heaped praise on Andreas Weimann after the young Austrian netted his side’s late winner against Fulham.

The 20-year-old was on hand to turn home in stoppage time after Mark Schwarzer could only fumble Gary Gardner’s initial effort.

Weimann replaced Charles N’Zogbia to collective boos from the home support, but McLeish was delighted to see his decision prove correct.

McLeish told reporters: “The fans were great, they see a forward going off (N’Zogbia) and Charles has been in good form, no doubt about it, but I’ve been wanting to get Andreas Weimann on the pitch at some stage today and I discussed that with my coaches before the game because he’s a goalscorer.”

“It’s just fitting him into the team and at the right time, there’s been a few key injuries and Andreas deserved his moment.”

“He’s been prolific in the reserve team, he’s a hungry young man, he wants to score goals, he links up with players well.”

“He’s not just a trick in the penalty box, he’s already a good player. His goal record has been exceptional in the reserve team and I felt he deserved a crack at it.”

Fulham counterpart Martin Jol felt the result was ‘harsh’ on his players and said the final scoreline did not reflect his side’s efforts.

The Dutchman said: “It was harsh to concede in the final minute. Same against Norwich City of course, we were leading then and we had to settle for a 0-0 today is what I thought. Of course after seeing the first-half it’s a deserved 0-0.”

“With the second-half we were the better team, they pressed us high in the first, we couldn’t play around them so we had to change it at half-time and there was no problem whatsoever after that.”

Despite Schwarzer’s bad handling, Jol refused to blame his goalkeeper and insisted that bad fortune was to blame for the result.

“No (I don’t blame the goalkeeper),” Jol said. “I don’t blame anyone, in the final minute I feel you have to keep your position and I feel we didn’t do that on the left.”

“It’s always the same, one, two, three mistakes, I think it was a good shot he (Schwarzer) couldn’t handle.”