Villa boss Martin O’Neill revealed his delight at seeing his side reach the first round proper of the UEFA Cup for the first time in seven years.

Villa were held to a 1-1 home draw by Icelandic part-timers FH Hafnarfjordur but went through 5-2 on aggregate.

O’Neill made six changes from the side which lost at Stoke and all Villa could manage was a Craig Gardner goal which was quickly cancelled out by Atli Bjornsson.

O’Neill said: “We are in the hat which is great. It is another two-legged affair but it would be great to get through to the group stages.

“It would be great if we can sustain the progress we have made in the Premier League.

“That is so important but why not do well in Europe as well?

“If we could get a couple more people in before the transfer window closes on Monday, and we are trying everything to do that, it would give all of us a lift and maybe sustain us for the months ahead.”

O’Neill gave full debuts to Wayne Routledge and Moustapha Salifou and also included Gareth Barry, who is now staying at Villa after his move to Liverpool failed to materialise.

O’Neill said: “I have to emphasise again how delighted I am that Gareth is staying. I am ecstatic but so is the dressing room.

“It is a big lift for us. It feels like we have a new player. A few weeks ago, I thought Gareth would have gone by now.”

Regarding his team’s performance O’Neill added: “It was a question of getting the job done. I was hoping we would sustain the tempo of the game longer than we did.

“But having scored four goals in Iceland and having made a few changes, I’m just so pleased to have got through.

“To also have 25,000 people turn out, with the game live on television, was also staggering. It was really terrific for us.”