All smiles for McLeish

Alex McLeish had nothing but kind words for his players after watching Aston Villa beat Blackburn 3-1 on Saturday.

Gabriel Agbonlahor, Emile Heskey and Darren Bent all got their names on the scoresheet at Villa Park, with Morgan Gamst Pedersen’s goal the only blemish for the hosts.

It was Villa’s first win of the season and the first for McLeish since his controversial appointment in the off-season.

“I’m very pleased,” McLeish told Sky Sports. “I’m delighted with the players. We played well and could have possibly had more.”

“After we got into our stride I thought we were excellent. (We scored) two great goals and it was great to see Agbonlahor score with a vintage Agbonlahor goal.”

“And Emile, who has put in such a big shift in for the team in the short time I’ve been at this club, deserved his.”

Pedersen’s 52nd minute goal gave Blackburn an opportunity to get themselves back in the match, but McLeish was pleased with how his defence handled their resurgence.

“We’ve got experienced players at the back and it was important we got a grip of the game again,” said McLeish.

“I think the players, from there on, never put a foot wrong again.”

The result continues a horrible start to the season for Blackburn, who lost 2-1 to Wolves on the opening day of the season, and manager Steve Kean conceded he was under pressure to turn things around.

“I can understand why (the fans) might be concerned but I would say to them that we’re just trying to get as many bodies back fit as we can and get some fresh faces into the squad,” Kean told Sky Sports.

“We’ve got a very good spirit here, which we showed last season, and once we assemble a full squad we’ll be fine.”

“We were quite happy with how we started the game, but then we found ourselves two goals down at half-time, which was tough.”

“On another day, considering we were in the opposition penalty area the equal number of times as Villa, we might have come away with a point.”