Agbonlahor hat-trick puts City to the sword

Posted on Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 6:08 pm and is filed under News.

Manchester City were left reeling this weekend after UEFA Europa League co-contestants Aston Villa thrashed them 4-1 in their opening match of the 2008 Premier League season.

City conceded their first goal early in the second half, and pulled one back before Gabriel Agbonlahor bludgeoned them into submission with a quick-fire hat-trick which saw him score three goals within the space of seven minutes.

“When he got the first the confidence came flooding through him,” Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill said after the match. “He took the next two magnificently and the third was just class. It was absolutely superb.”

Manchester City manager Mark Hughes eventually managed to stifle the flow of goals by replacing Evans and Fernandes, however the sky blues were never going to reel in Villa’s lead.

The performance of Manchester City is unlikely to have struck fear into the hearts of their Danish UEFA Europa League opponents, Midtjylland, who have a one goal advantage heading into the second leg of their UEFA Europa League tie in Denmark on the 28th of August.

Meanwhile, Aston Villa fans will be relishing the prospect of seeing Agbonlahor in action again when they take on Iceland’s Hafnarfjordur in the home leg of their second qualifying round tie.