Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill has hailed his strikers for their part in the 2-1 victory over Reading. Goals from Ashley Young and substitute Marlon Harewood pushed Villa closer to Champions League qualification and they are now level on points with their two main rivals for fourth place, Liverpool and Everton.

John Carew and the fit-again Gabriel Agbonlahor were also instrumental in inflicting a club-record eighth successive league defeat on the Royals. O'Neill said: "We were a threat all day, we looked capable of scoring and there was no question we deserved to win the game. At 1-0 as Reading were pressing for an equaliser so anything could have happened but Marlon came up trumps again, as he has done on three out of four occasions when he has come off the bench."