Aston Villa 0 - 0 Fulham

Cottagers hold out again

Empics

50-50: Luke Young and Fulham's Clinton Dempsey.

Scoring Summary
Aston Villa	Fulham

Match Stats
	Aston Villa	Fulham
Shots (on Goal)	16(2)	6(2)
Fouls	11	17
Corner Kicks	11	4
Offsides	3	2
Time of Possession	47%	54%
Yellow Cards	0	2
Red Cards	0	0
Saves	2	2

Match Information

Stadium: Villa Park, England Attendance: 36,625 Match Time: 10:00 ET Official(s): Michael Jones (Referee)

Teams
Aston Villa	Fulham
1 Brad Friedel	1 Mark Schwarzer
5 Martin Laursen	5 Brede Hangeland
15 Curtis Davies	18 Aaron Hughes
2 Luke Young	3 Paul Konchesky
24 Carlos Jimenez Cuellar	4 John Pantsil
19 Stiliyan Petrov	21 Jimmy Bullard
4 Steve Sidwell	13 Danny Murphy
6 Gareth Barry	25 Simon Davies
7 Ashley Young	23 Clint Dempsey
8 James Milner	8 Andrew Johnson
11 Gabriel Agbonlahor	9 Bobby Zamora
Substitutes
9 Marlon Harewood	Julian Gray 17
21 Nicky Shorey	Dickson Etuhu 20
16 Zat Knight	Erik Nevland 10
17 Moustapha Salifou	Toni Kallio 33
22 Brad Guzan	Zoltan Gera 11
26 Craig Gardner	Fredrik Stoor 22
14 Nathan Delfouneso	Pascal Zuberbühler 19
Substitutions
	Zoltan Gera for Bobby Zamora (85)
Yellow Cards
	Clint Dempsey (4)
	John Pantsil (84)
· Club Rosters: Aston Villa | Fulham

Updated: November 29, 2008, 12:05 PM ET

The England midfielder, who has vowed to remain with Villa until at least next summer, could have had a hat-trick but his finishing touch deserted him.

Victory would have taken Martin O'Neill's side above Manchester United but the Cottagers followed up their goalless draw at Liverpool with another determined performance.

Villa went into the game bubbling with confidence after winning against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium and sharing the spoils at home with Manchester United.

But, not for the first time this season, they failed to produce a top-notch performance against a side outside of the elite bunch after previously having been beaten by Stoke, Newcastle and Middlesbrough.

Villa also missed the physical presence of injured striker John Carew and the Norway international would have provided a test for Fulham goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who looked uncertain in the air in dealing with crosses.

But the west Londoners proved resolute opponents with Paul Konchesky and Jimmy Bullard catching the eye even though they are still searching for their first away league success of the campaign.

Fulham striker Andrew Johnson was predictably booed every time he touched the ball after starting his career with Villa's bitter local rivals Birmingham.

Cottagers midfielder Clint Dempsey was booked after only three minutes for a clumsy challenge on Barry.

Ashley Young briefly brought the crowd to life after he collected a long pass from Stiliyan Petrov. He cut in from the left but his eventual low shot was dragged into the side-netting.

Villa started to come to life and Barry missed the first decent chance of the game after 24 minutes.

Young was the creator with an inswinging cross which was met by the England midfielder at the far post but he directed his header just wide.

Another cross from Young picked out Petrov but he got too much height on his glancing header.

Young had a half-chance when Gabriel Agbonlahor squared the ball to him on the edge of the box but he summed up proceedings by shooting high over Schwarzer's goal.

Steve Sidwell was guilty of a glaring miss after 39 minutes when it looked easier to score.

Young arrowed in a free-kick from 30 yards out and Sidwell timed his run perfectly to find himself unmarked six yards out but he headed over when he needed only the deftest of touches.

Villa goalkeeper Brad Friedel was called into meaningful action for the first time two minutes later to tip over a 20-yarder from Dempsey.

O'Neill would have wanted a positive response from his side after they seldom moved out of second gear in the first half.

But Young would have been disappointed to scuff his shot wide after a centre from James Milner had only been half-cleared.

Milner started to see more of the ball but screwed his shot from the edge of the Fulham boss well wide.

Petrov and Luke Young had shots deflected wide during a spell of four successive corners from Villa.

Schwarzer came to Fulham's rescue when he tipped a close-range header from Barry onto the crossbar from another dangerous Ashley Young free-kick.

Then Friedel did well to beat out a fierce angled drive from Simon Davies at the expense of a corner.

Barry missed another good chance when he headed across the goal when unmarked from an Ashley Young free-kick.