O'Leary Disappointed With Just A Point

The Villa manager did agree though that a draw had been the right result and praised his players for the way they had battled so hard.

O'Leary said: "I think we had the better chances over the full 90 minutes and I think Southampton only had one or two shots on target while we had many clear opportunities.

"Angel was fouled for the penalty but it was a brave decision for the referee to make because others might have overlooked it and given Southampton a free-kick instead.

"I'm disappointed that once we had gone into the lead we did not hold on to it. If we had got to half-time still in front I would have fancied our chances.

"But our goal made Southampton raise their game and it is a shame we were not able to go in at half-time a goal in front.

"We had plenty of chances after the break. Angel missed a couple of headers and the goalkeeper made a great save from Peter Crouch and in fact their keeper was brilliant throughout the match.

"If you want to qualify for European competition you have to win these sort of matches at the end of the season against teams with nothing much to play for, so we have to be disappointed just to come away with a draw."