O'Neill frustrated by Cup upset

Barry: Took over armband

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Martin O'Neill insisted Aston Villa's Carling Cup defeat by QPR was far more important than Gareth Barry returning to captaincy duties.

The England international led Villa for the first time since his dream move to Liverpool fell through but could not prevent the Championship side pulling off a 1-0 win at Villa Park.

It was a match a reshuffled Villa side dominated for long periods, with Marlon Harewood missing the best of their opportunities, only for Damion Stewart's 58th-minute goal to give the visitors a third-round victory.

"I felt we had enough chances to win this game," said O'Neill.

"When the match is in the balance and you don't take your chances there's always a chance you might concede and we did.

"We were beaten in the game but if we had been played off the park it would have been a different issue.

"It's naturally disappointing to go out of the competition and not to be in the hat for the next round is really frustrating."

Barry looked to have played his last game for Villa this summer and was dropped as skipper in favour of Martin Laursen.

Ovation

So long Villa's talisman, Barry was booed by a small section of fans this summer but he received a warm, if not deafening, ovation from the Villa faithful when he was announced as captain against QPR.

"It's nothing. In the scheme of things it's really unimportant," said O'Neill.

"I'm more disappointed about losing the game so the captaincy is not the thing. I was more than pleased to give it to Gareth and he was more than pleased to get it.

"Martin Laursen is captain of this side and he missed out tonight, Nigel Reo-Coker has led the side in the past and he wasn't in the starting line-up.

"That left Gareth as the obvious choice, and why not?

"He didn't hold a speech or anything like that over it but he was, I'm sure, pretty pleased," added the Villa boss.

"He doesn't give much away but I think he was pretty pleased - as anyone who gets the captaincy at this football club should be."