Angel Escapes Ban

Juan Pablo Angel will not be punished for elbowing Sheffield United’s defender Chris Morgan during the 2-2 draw at Bramall Lane on Tuesday night.

The referee, Mark Halsey, has confirmed to the Football Association that he saw the incident involving the Aston Villa striker and the governing body is therefore powerless to pursue the matter. The FA had planned to study "any relevant video footage" of the clash but an FA spokesman said yesterday: "Mark Halsey has confirmed that he did see the incident at the time and, under Fifa regulations, we are unable to take any retrospective disciplinary action."

Halsey dealt with the matter at the time by awarding a free-kick to United. Television replays suggested Angel made contact with Morgan with his elbow and the defender appeared incensed. At the final whistle, he raced down the players’ tunnel where Villa’s manager Martin O’Neill admitted there had been a "kerfuffle".

O’Neill will be relieved at today’s announcement by the FA as he can ill afford to be without the club’s record signing for the hectic festive period given the lack of depth to his squad. However, a goalkeeping crisis is looming for Saturday evening’s Premiership game at Villa Park against Bolton after Stuart Taylor suffered a knee injury in the game at Bramall Lane.

Taylor was limping badly during the closing stages after an impressive performance and was unable to take goal-kicks. The former Arsenal player is deputising for Villa’s No1 Thomas Sorensen, who is sidelined with a knee injury sustained in a challenge with the Middlesbrough defender Emanuel Pogatetz two and a half weeks ago.

"Stuart made some great saves but he picked up a knee injury," O’Neill said. "He was examined by the physios and doctors after the game. Hopefully we’ll have more news soon."

The situation could mean a first-team debut for the Austrian Under-21 goalkeeper Robert Olejnik on Saturday. The 20-year-old was signed by O’Neill’s predecessor David O’Leary in 2003 as a possible long-term replacement for Sorensen from Austria Vienna and signed professional terms 12 months later.

Olejnik - nicknamed "The Beast" because of his bulky frame - has been on the substitutes’ bench for the past three Premiership games against Manchester City, Portsmouth and the Blades. Villa’s only other goalkeepers are the 18-yearolds Lee Boyle and Stephen Henderson. The defender Wilfred Bouma, meanwhile, is also battling to be fit after suffering a head injury against Neil Warnock’s side which required several stitches.

Despite the injury problems, however, O’Neill could take some positives from the hard-fought draw on Tuesday night with Stilian Petrov’s first goal for the club a cause for optimism. O’Neill had commented on Petrov’s lack of goals before the game, especially as the 27-year-old scored 64 in 311 appearances for Celtic before joining Villa, and the Bulgarian is hoping his goal on Tuesday will be the first of many this season.

"It’s a great relief," he said. "It was becoming frustrating because I have been close, hitting the post, seeing shots cleared off the line. Sometimes you have spells like I’ve had, but I’ve kept working and had great support from the lads, which has been the main thing.

"That’s why it is a team game. That’s why we work hard for each other, help each other and we’re team-mates because we know somebody will score. I hope there’s more [goals] to come [from me]. People say when you have confidence and when you score goals you do better so I hope that’s the case."