Pre-match caution paid off for Aston Villa when they got their UEFA Cup second qualifying round tie off to the best possible start with a 4-1 away win over Iceland’s FH Hafnarfjordur in Reykjavik on Thursday night.

Gareth Barry, a Liverpool target in the transfer markets, scored first with a goal on 4 minutes followed by Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor.

Villa went into the half time break 3-0 up, but never took their foot off the throttle in the second half with Martin Laursen heading home their 4th goal. Matthias Gudmundsson scored FH Hafnarfjordur’s only goal late in the second half.

Aston Villa begin their Premiership season on Sunday when they take on Manchester City, who fell at the first hurdle in their UEFA Cup match against Danish side FC Midtjyllandat.

“I could not think at all about the game on Sunday until we had played tonight, but I was very pleased with some of the football we played,” Martin O’Niell said after the match. “We obviously need to tighten up our defence if we could, but I was very pleased to win tonight.”