Yorke goal provides a lifeline for Villa

DWIGHT YORKE gave Aston Villa a UEFA Cup lifeline to leave his side with only a single-goal deficit to make up in the return third-round encounter with Steaua Bucharest in a fortnight's time.

Villa looked to be heading for the exit doors in the competition after Cristian Ciocoiu had struck twice in quick succession, the first off the back of Michael Oakes' head, before the interval.

Manager Brian Little seemed doomed to spend his 44th birthday on the third anniversary of him taking over the Villa Park hot seat on the end of a resounding defeat.

At that stage his side appeared to be in total disarray and, had Catalin Munteanu's effort gone in rather than hitting the crossbar early in the second half, then the floodgates may well have opened.

But Yorke left Villa needing only a 1-0 victory to book their place in the quarter-finals for the first time in 20 years.

It was sweet revenge for Yorke. who had been the subject of racist taunts along with Villa's other black players when they had inspected the stadium 24 hours earlier.

After his meekly taken header Villa gradually regained their composure with Mark Draper outstanding as they re-established a grip on proceedings in the centre of the park.

Although Damian Militaru flashed a free kick just over the bar. Villa appeared to be taking the sting out of the Romanians and they should have taken the lead in the 17th minute through Mark Draper. who shot wide.

Oakes was left cursing his luck as Ciocoiu grabbed the first of his two goals inside two minutes to leave Villa with that mountain to climb.

Bucharest broke with lightning speed after the out-of-sorts Stan Collymore. sporting a new pair of £2,500 boots, had lost possession in the centre of the pitch.

Munteanu fed the ball out to Lacatus and his pin-point cross picked out Ciocoiu at the far post. His volley rattled against the post but the rebound hit Oakes on the back and crossed the line.

If Lady Luck had been against Villa on that occasion. they could have no complaints when Ciocoiu added the second Bucharest goal in the 32nd minute. A cross from the right by Rotariu picked out Ciocoiu and in spectacular fashion he sent an overhead kick from around 12 yards out flying past Oakes.

Bucharest continued in the same vein after the start of the second period but the pendulum swung back Villa's way in the space of 60 action-packed seconds, when they could have gone 3-0 behind but instead halved the deficit.

Munteanu was left cursing his luck when his effort from close range rattled against thy underside of the bar and rebounded to safety after one-two with Militaru had taken him clear.

But Villa gave themselves a huge lifeline within 60 seconds. Collymore and Wright engineered space for Milosevic on the left flank and he had time to send in a pin-point centre which Yorke sent into the corner of the net via a glancing header.