The game had started brightly though, and when Thomas Hitzlserger picked up the ball inside the Norwich half with only 30 seconds on the clock, jinked through midfield and spread the ball out wide to Gareth Barry in space, many expected a Villa onslaught. But like Barry's testing cross, it never came.
In truth, David O’Leary’s side rarely looked troubled with Norwich in possession, as they pumped up long balls to David Bentley and Darren Huckerby, neither of them 6ft tall, which were easily dealt with by Olof Mellberg and Mark Delaney. Any team that counts upon ex-Tottenham substitute Gary Docherty for goals is going to struggle, but for all Villa’s possession, the visitors seemed equally toothless at the other end.
O’Leary’s men are prone to spells when their lack of attacking bite make T4’s interviewing technique look positively cutting, and this dearth is likely to haunt them again before the season is over. Back in the side, Carlton Cole had two gilt-edged opportunities, after finding himself bearing down on the goalkeeper in the first half, he then had a headed chance after the break, following a quick attack and cross down the left by JLloyd Samuel. However, both attempts were so implausibly limp and submissive, they made Graham Norton look like Robocop.
The midfield was also complicit in the sloppy display, with too many innocuous balls and players dallying for too long when in possession. It was the footballing equivalent of an eleven-year-old girl, nervously twisting her pig-tails as she asked out one of the sixth-formers. All youthful naivety, no nous. Having said that, it was the youngest member of the side, 19-year-old Steven Davis, making his debut as a second-half substitute, who almost stole the three points for Villa in the dying moments.
But it was not to be and the result could have been worse for the visitors when another replacement, Damien Francis then forced a good save out of Thomas Sørenson at the other end. It was the Danish goalkeeper’s first real action of the afternoon.