Villa book Uefa spot

Bouma injury overshadows European progression

By Peter Fraser   Last updated: 26th July 2008

Young Ashley

Young: Stunning strike

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Aston Villa booked a place in the Uefa Cup qualifiers as they eliminated Odense in the third round of the Intertoto Cup following a 1-0 second-leg victory at Villa Park.

With the game poised at 2-2 after last weekend's draw in Denmark, a stunning second half strike from Ashley Young allowed Villa to progress to the second qualifying round of the Uefa Cup.

However, the match was overshadowed by a horrific injury to Villa full-back Wilfred Bouma, who left the field early in the first half with a dislocated ankle following a collision with an opponent.

Villa, who had Liverpool target Gareth Barry starting the game on the bench, began brightly as they aimed to earn an advantage.

Barry return

But Bouma sustained his injury on 12 minutes and the lengthy delay as the Dutch international was replaced by Barry, who was greeted by warm applause, clearly influenced both sides.

The home team threatened at set plays, but it was Odense who had the best chance of the first half as Baye Djiby Fall hit the post when one-on-one with Stuart Taylor.

However, Villa dominated after the interval and Martin O'Neill's men were not forced to wait long to take the lead as Young cut in from the left to fire a rasping right-footed drive into the top corner on 50 minutes.

Young then turned on the style as he teased the Odense defence and John Carew was unfortunate to see a header from this team-mate's free-kick come back off the cross bar.

Villa, though, did not require a second as they comfortably saw out the closing stages to book a place in Friday's draw.