ASTON Villa goal hero Gareth Southgate has been able to get on with picking up the pieces after his Euro '96 penalty agony with the help of some mickey taking from his team-mates.

It certainly had the desired effect last night with the England defender being Villa's man of the match and scoring a spectacular volleyed winner against Blackburn Rovers.

Villa striker Tommy Johnson revealed: "We had a bit of leg pulling with Gareth, when he reported back for training, about the penalty but I don't think really he would have expected anything else.

"If he had come back and no-one had said anything, then I think it might have played more on his mind especially with the way the lads are in our changing room!

"It was good banter, nothing malicious, but I think he was glad otherwise he might have been more conscious about it if everybody had not mentioned the penalty. He was soon back to normal."

Manager Brian Little was happy enough about the return to the form of Southgate that had secured his initial England breakthrough even without his stunning 25 yard volley.

Little said: "You can forget the goal because he didn't need a goal. He turned in a massive performance. I thought he was excellent.

"The goal was just a tremendous bonus but it will have earned him a few newspaper head-lines which is nice for the lad. - I thought Gareth and the Blackburn defender Colin Hendry were a couple of guys who showed people what they're about with their performances.

"Hendry has a big heart and gets on the end of everything while Gareth is good at things like tidying up but both were outstanding for each team."

Little believes that the hectic schedule of games at the start of the season will have helped Southgate to put the spot-kick despair out of his mind.

"Once the football season starts, all you think about are games. The lads were back in today and they'll start thinking about Saturday's match with Derby." he said.

"You just cannot have it any other way. There is no time to dwell on things and what has gone."

Little is more confident that Villa will have sorted out Sasa Curcic's work permit in time for him to make his debut against Derby County on Saturday.

"As I understand from the club officials involved, we are quite happy with the way things are progressing. I'm told there is a strong possibility he will be available for Saturday," he said.