Milner relieved to put away penalty
Monday 26th April 2010, 10:45AM BST.
Derby-day Villa hero James Milner was relieved to have held his nerve from the penalty spot after revealing Birmingham’s players had tried to put him off.
The England star ensured Villa once again had the bragging rights after firing home from 12 yards with just seven minutes left on the clock.
Milner’s penalty proved controversial after replays showed Roger Johnson had got a toe on the ball before tackling Gabby Agbonlahor, with Blues’ furious players triying every trick in the book to fluster the midfielder before his kick.
And the Villa star said: “You expect that. Joe Hart has seen me take a lot of penalties with the under-21s. It was a big penalty, so it was nice to stick it away.
“They said they knew where I was going to put it and where I put my last one, Joe Hart was trying to stare me out. They try to put you off but as long as it ends up in the back of the net it doesn’t matter.”
Milner felt the claret and blues were right to get a penalty.
He said: “I was a long way away. It looked like a penalty to me but their boys seemed to be complaining it wasn’t. Gabby did brilliantly to get across him.”
It was a result that kept Villa in contention for the Champions League after they moved level on points with fourth-placed Tottenham, albeit having played one game more.
The contribution of Brad Friedel was equal to Milner’s after the Villa goalkeeper made a host of top-drawer saves to keep Birmingham at bay – including one with his head in the dying seconds.
He said: “That one’s smarting a little bit right now. Sometimes you just have to throw whatever you can in the way and today it was my face. We’ve fought to the end for the whole season.
“We’ve come from behind a number of times and got points and yesterday was no different.
“We are not going to quit until it is mathematically impossible.”
UK Sport
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