O'Neill hoping to boost record

Martin O'Neill" class="imageframe alignright" height="130" src="http://www.expressandstar.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/oneill2.thumbnail.jpg" width="175"/>Martin O'Neill is aiming to improve a very mixed record against Derby when Villa face the Premier League's bottom club on Saturday.

As a former Nottingham Forest player, games against the Rams are special for the Villa boss. So it pains him to recall one particular game against them.

Forest were European champions when they crashed 4-1 to Derby in November 1979 – after going 3-0 down in the 15 minutes. O'Neill was in the team that day.

That defeat stung legendary manager Clough in particular, as it was back at his former club.

"Brian Clough wasn't happy – and I remember that more than anything else!" said O'Neill. "He wasn't happy with his favourite players such as John Robertson , which was a consolation to me.

"All of us copped it. So I was really pleased some of his favourite players got it as well. Getting turned over by his former team who were bottom and where he still lived was bad – and we'd just won the European Cup at the time!"

As a manager, O'Neill's Leicester hammered Derby 4-0 in 1998, with three goals coming in the first eight minutes – and four inside the first 15. But they then lost four in a row against Jim Smith's side.

"We blitzed Derby at Pride Park. Muzzy Izzet and Emile Heskey were on fire – we were absolutely terrific, honestly," recalled the Villa boss. "We played really great. We missed a great chance after about 26 minutes to go 5-0 up. It was amazing!

"I remember Jim Smith beating us a few times, including 1-0 at Filbert Street in a really wretched game in December 1999.

"Jim was a cagey old boy. He knew his players and got the best out of them."

O'Neill sees similarities between Derby and his old Leicester side, who survived their first Premier League stint in 1996-97.

"The similarities are there because we came up through the play-offs, and we had no time whatsoever to prepare," he said.

"I've heard Derby say this – but it takes you 10-14 games to realise what this is all about, and we certainly found that."