Daley deals Reds a blow

Tony Daley condemned Liverpool to a second defeat in four days - hardly the best preparation for their FA Cup semi-final replay.

He robbed emergency left back Mike Marsh and ran 60 yards as Steve Nicol retreated. Daley's shot lacked velocity but a diving Bruce Grobbelaar could only help the ball in.

Earlier Grobbelaar twice denied Ian Olney with quick reaction saves but was well beaten when the striker headed against a post on 66 minutes. Olney was the first to the rebound but tripped over the ball, allowing Nick Tanner to concede a corner which Kevin Richardson curled against the same post.

Despite their good fortune, Liverpool might have snatched a point when Michael Thomas was left unmarked to meet a Mark Walters cross. But Thomas' fierce volley was palmed away for a corner by Nigel Spink.

Liverpool began without Mark Wright, David Burrows, Ian Rush and John Barnes while England defender Rob Jones stayed in the dressing room at half-time following a collision with Kevin Richardson.

Caretaker boss Ronnie Moran refused to blame Grobbelaar for failing to stop Daley's shot.
He said: "It wasn't necessarily a goalkeeping error. The whole thing started well before that. But considering he took the ball off one of our players and ran a long way, you have to be disappointed with it. We scored what I thought was a good goal in the first half when Dean Saunders put the ball in but I believe it was chalked off for offside."

Moran said he had spoken to manager Graeme Souness, recovering from a triple by-pass heart operation in a Cheshire hospital. "Graeme is doing fine but he might be back in bed again after hearing this result."

Villa manager Ron Atkinson said: "It was a marvellous goal by Tony who did the difficult part robbing the defender. Then he only had to run 80 yards to score. This result is a real fillip for our supporters as we haven't beaten Liverpool for 11 years." 

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