`A great goal and a great game'

COCA-COLA CUP FINAL

Savo Milosevic was delighted that he had answered his critics and showed why AstonVilla paid Partizan Belgrade pounds 3.5m for his services last summer.

"It was a great goal," he said of his 30-yard, dipping shot, "and a great game. We played tremendously and deserved to win. It would have been hard for us to come here and get beat."

Ian Taylor, the scorer of the second goal said: "Savo has taken some stick but his goal was a great finish."

Andy Townsend, whose non-stop running earned him the man of the match award, also praised Milosevic. "Savo is an easy target. He's young and doesn't speak English very well, but he's played his part today with a fabulous goal. We have slipped up a bit in recent weeks and there was always a danger that it would fizzle out."

Brian Little, tasting success in his first full season in charge of Villa, said: " It couldn't have gone any better. We stepped it up in the second half and it was comfortable in the end."

Howard Wilkinson admitted that his Leeds team were outplayed. "We just did not cause them any problems," he said. "Most of the time, we were causing ourselves problems. We just didn't perform."