O'Neill wants more goals

Villa boss asks strikers to put hearts into last quarter

Last updated: 11th March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

O'Neill wants more goals

Carew and Agbonlahor: O'Neill hopeful

I hope between that talented group of players we get enough goals to see us through. We are still in there fighting.

Martin O'Neill
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Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill has urged his three key strikers to rack up the goals as they bid for FA Cup glory and a UEFA Champions League spot.

O'Neill is hoping to have Gabriel Agbonlahor back for Saturday's Premier League clash at Stoke after the England international recovered from a stomach bug.

The illness forced Agbonlahor to miss Villa's FA Cup quarter-final win over Reading on Sunday, giving fellow striker John Carew his chance to shine.

The big Norwegian scored a second-half hat-trick at the Madejski Stadium to rocket the Midlands side into the semi-finals of the tournament.

While O'Neill is full of praise for his strikers, he has called for the pair and Emile Heskey to put all of their efforts into the final quarter of the season.

"We have scored a flurry of goals recently against Reading and Burnley. I think the players are improving in that aspect. They want to get into the penalty area to score," he said.

Charge on

"Gabby's record is very good this season and John will hopefully charge on and get that second wind for the last part of the season - and we have Emile too.

"I hope between that talented group of players we get enough goals to see us through. We are still in there fighting."

O'Neill added: "Because of the cup runs and because of the League Cup semis, a replay against Crystal Palace and the postponed Premier League games, it means it's going to be pretty hectic between now and the end of the season.

"But it's going to be pretty exciting if we can stay in there and hang in there.

"Saturday's game against Stoke will be extremely difficult, followed by an equally difficult away trip to Wigan in mid-week. But we've got to hang in, try and stay the course and stay with it."