Villa midfielder Steve Sidwell today targeted a return to first-team action against Portsmouth after taking his latest step on the comeback trail.

Sidwell featured for Villa’s reserves in yesterday afternoon’s behind-closed-doors friendly against Leicester, which finished 2-2.

It was his first taste of action since suffering a knee injury while playing for Villa’s second string last month while on his way back from a calf problem.

But now the £5.5m signing from Chelsea, whose only two appearances to date have come in the Intertoto Cup against Odense BK, is confident he has finally put his injury problems behind him.

And now he intends to finally get his Villa career well and truly under way – starting against Portsmouth a week on Saturday.

“I’ve been training now for a while but I needed some games,” said Sidwell. “Yesterday was the first so it probably showed.

“It’s been a real frustrating time. It couldn’t have come at a worse time coming to a new club and trying to impress in the early stages.

“But it has happened, I’ve been mentally strong and I’m back now. I feel fine and fully fit and I am looking forward to getting out there and getting amongst it.

“I’ll carry on training throughout the week and then maybe play a few reserve games. There are games there to play and fitness there to recover so if it goes well hopefully I will be in the thoughts for the Portsmouth game.”