"We are a team that like to attack and have a go but when we went down to ten men the agenda was not to get beaten and try to nick it if we could," O'Leary said after the 2-1 win at The Riverside lifted The Villa into fifth place in the Premier League table.
"Our goalkeeper was awesome and our two centre-backs were tremendous.
"I thought we would get a result and when we went down to ten men we showed fantastic spirit."
O'Leary however was unhappy over former Villa midfeilder Boateng crashing to the deck after being hit in the face by Solano: "Boateng has a great future in films. It is sad to see a professional try to get a fellow professional sent off," he complained.
"We don't like this sort of thing. Football is hard enough for the referee. It looked fantastic on TV. Boateng has a great future if he wants to go there."
He continued: "We have three games to go with nine points at stake.
"When I came to the club the chairman wanted me to reduce the wage bill by half and stay up. I would be more than happy with sixth place but I'm not afraid of finishing fourth. That would be a fantastic achievement."