Martin O’Neill today vowed his Villa team will “come again” after their Champions League dream was dealt another crushing blow.

A 93rd-minute winner from Fernando Torres handed Liverpool a scarcely-deserved 1-0 victory at the Villans’ expense last night at Villa Park – moving the Reds within two points of O’Neill’s side.

After spending Christmas in the top four, Villa now find themselves sixth having lost 3-0 at Arsenal on Sunday but O’Neill insists their top-four mission us not about to go up in smoke.

“It’s a blow, there’s no doubt about it – a real, real blow to us,” said O’Neill. “We will just have to reflect on it.

“It was said to me that it’s been a poor Christmas and, of course, yes, in terms of results but last night we should have won.

“We played two games in 48 hours – this sounds very much like a bleat – but at this stage of the season those extra hours might have made a difference.

“It’s hard to take but we will come again.”

O’Neill rued the bizarre “collection of circumstances” which led to Torres’ win after an underhit pass from Stephen Warnock, slip from Richard Dunne and tackle-come-pass from Gabby Agbonlahor all contributed to the ball eventually falling into the Spaniard’s path.

But he insisted a loss of concentration was not to blame.

“He’s a very, very good player, an excellent player,” he added.

“The ball fell to him very, very kindly. We made the mistake – if you can call it that.

“Richard Dunne slipped and then Gabby Agbonlahor comes in and wins the tackle and the ball bounces kindly to Torres, it’s as simple as that.

“It was from a collection of circumstances that the ball arrived there, it wasn’t to do with concentration.

“We restricted Liverpool to not so much and that is the disappointing aspect.

“We should have won the match but we didn’t, we got beat.” There was no place in the 18-man squad for Emile Heskey who was ruled out through illness, making him a doubt for Saturday’s FA Cup third-round clash with Blackburn at Villa Park.

“He didn’t feature,” O’Neill added. “He was ill on Sunday at Arsenal and he came off in the game and still wasn’t feeling so bright.”