Goalscoring hero Gabby Agbonlahor has vowed Villa are ready to fight to the death in the race for fourth place after helping sink Hull.

The Villa forward pulled level with strike partner John Carew on 16 goals for the season, after putting the team ahead with an emphatic curling finish in the 2-0 win at the KC Stadium last night.

It left the claret and blues, who climbed to sixth, just three points off fourth place with three games to go, although rivals Tottenham and Manchester City now have a game in hand.

Now Agbonlahor has warned Villa, who have claimed 10 points from their last four games, are in no mood to let up.

He said: “We know what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to win every game. We said we had to win the last five games after we didn’t beat Everton, so it made it even more important to come here to win.

“With the way we played last night we deserved to win. We know we’ve still got a chance of fourth spot. It’s going to be hard, we need other results to go our way but we have every chance.

“We just have to keep fighting and see what happens. The Champions League is where we want to be playing.”

It made it nine wins on the road for Villa this term – only Manchester United have won more away.

Agbonlahor added: “Away games suit us. Sometimes when we don’t score early at home we feel under pressure, so I think we feel less pressure away from home.”

O’Neill was delighted with the professionalism of his team but was relieved when James Milner made it two from the penalty spot on 74 minutes.

The manager said: “This was an important win for us. Even though it was very professional, I thought we had played very well and it was pretty controlled stuff, at 1-0 the game is still in the balance.

“It was good to get the second goal – James Milner sticking it in from the penalty spot – and we saw it through reasonably comfortably.

“I say that now, I’m not saying that is what I thought in the last 10 or 15 minutes of the game.

“We had a number of chances on the break as Hull were pressing forward to get the third goal and we squandered one or two.

“But, overall, I’m delighted with the team.”

Hull boss Iain Dowie admitted it was the relegation-threatened Tigers’ frailties at both ends of the pitch that cost them again.

He said: “It’s a familiar story. The stats don’t lie. We’ve outperformed Villa in every part of the game except what matters – goals.

“We’ve had more crosses, more shots, more corners but we’ve got to take our opportunities.

“There was a good response to going behind after an absolute joke goal and then we have the killer chances – fundamental turning points in games.

“We started the second-half like a house on fire and then we gave away another schoolboy goal from our set-piece.”