Villa Sporting Star columnist Dave Woodhall warns that the dwindling attendance issue at home may be a nut that will take a while to crack.

It wasn’t always pretty but it was effective and another week has gone by with Villa recording two wins, earning three points and getting through to round four of the Carling Cup.

To continue with the numbers theme, you could say it’s been a five-star effort to make it six wins in a row.

The match with Cardiff in particular was heavy going. The Welsh side were obviously going to enjoy the big occasion and made things difficult for Villa, but in the end we killed the game off even if there was a late scare.

A host of video replays showed that Cardiff’s disallowed goal might have been legal after all. Maybe that’s the stroke of luck you need if your name’s on the cup.

It was good to get this one out of the way. Championship teams in blue haven’t been good for us in the Carling Cup in the last couple of years so that’s one jinx broken. Now all we need is a kind draw in the fourth round and we can maybe, hopefully, start thinking about a trip to Wembley.

One disappointment though was the attendance. Take away the Cardiff fans and those with tickets who didn’t attend and you’re probably left with little more than 17,000 or so Villa supporters at the game, most of whom would have had free tickets from the Rapid Vienna deal.

Obviously the main reason for such a poor figure is the low importance placed on the competition, but the crowd against Portsmouth wasn’t exactly worth shouting about, either. Maybe the fade-out at the end of last season set off a feeling of disillusionment that’s going to take a while longer to get rid of.

Keeping the winning streak going should do the trick. Blackburn on Saturday will provide a decent test – our win at Ewood Park last season had the pundits raving and another good display will set us up nicely for Manchester City and the first big clash of the season at Villa Park.

We won’t have any worries about the attendance for that one.