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Time for O’Neill’s Villa to deliver

BIRMINGHAM, England - Martin O’Neill has overseen four years of steady progress since his arrival at Villa Park but he will know he will be expected to deliver silverware sooner rather than later.

The League Cup represents an ideal opportunity for O’Neill, who has established a love affair with this much maligned competition both as a player with Nottingham Forest and a manager with Leicester City, to bring the trophy to another Midlands club.

Few members of Villa’s largely youthful squad have won major honours while not since 1996, when they won the League Cup, have the club brought a senior trophy back to their Birmingham base.

But on Wednesday they will be one match away from a Wembley final when they face Blackburn Rovers in the second leg of their League Cup semi-final, having built a 1-0 lead against their Premier League rivals in the opening encounter at Ewood Park.

O’Neill’s men will be firm favourites at Villa Park and their American chairman Randy Lerner, who has backed his manager with plenty of cash, will be in the stands to see if his side can book a place in the first major final of the English season.

Villa’s manager was in no doubt what lifting a trophy would mean to the club as a whole, regardless of any financial impact.

“The club will obviously survive without winning the competition but it would be really great to win something. For a football club of this standing it would be fantastic,” O’Neill said.

“We should be contesting more semi-finals and finals if at all possible. It’s not easy now with a number of clubs improving their standards, like Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City.

“There are only four teams left in the competition (Manchester City and Manchester United are in the other semi-final) but we’re still a long way away from Wembley.”

Republic of Ireland international Richard Dunne, one of O’Neill’s shrewdest signings since his appointment, believes the former Northern Ireland midfielder can bolster his reputation at Villa Park by leading the club to the final.

“I think it would be great for Martin to win a trophy,” the central defender, signed from Manchester City at the start of the season, said.

“Obviously the fans love him and if he could bring them a trophy, it would only push him higher,” he added.

“But the club is progressing and for us to push on to the next level and win a cup is the start of a new and successful era for the club.

“The main thing is to focus on the semi-final and not get carried away with thinking about Wembley. Teams can get sidetracked thinking too far ahead.

“People are already asking about a possible final against Manchester City but I’ve not got any preference, I just want to win a trophy,” Dunne added.

“My only concern is Aston Villa and getting them into the final.”

Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce, meanwhile, admits it will be a daunting task to overcome the deficit.

Rovers head into the game in good spirits after a 2-0 league win over Fulham on Sunday but Allardyce knows their first leg loss has left Blackburn with an uphill struggle.

“We wanted something to take into the second leg and we now have a huge task obviously,” Allardyce said. “We must look forward though and if we get the first goal and our luck changes, we can make a game of it.”