All smiles for semis clash.

MARTIN O'Neill spoke of his elation at giving the supporters something to smile about after setting up a Peace Cup semifinal with Porto, writes Bill Howell.

Villa face the side who shattered O'Neill's UEFA Cup dreams in 2003 tomorrow night in Malaga with the victors facing Juventus or Real Madrid in Sunday's final in Seville.

"I'm delighted to be still here and to be participating in the Peace Cup semi final. Judging by the reaction of the players, they are too," said O'Neill.

"I'm delighted for the supporters. We didn't want to go out as meekly.

"It will be a competitive game in the semi-final. First place was the aim for us. I accept the fact we are still in preseason and we're having to balance one thing against another.

"We have players still to come back, but we're trying to have a competitive spirit to the side as well."

Last night's 3-1 victory over Atlante was even more remarkable due to the many absentees that had hit his squad and the early loss of Stiliyan Petrov.

Gabby Agbonlahor, Craig Gardner and James Milner are still on holiday, Nathan Delfouneso is with the England Under19s while Luke Young (thigh), Moustapha Salifu (ill) and Wilfred Bouma (ankle) are also missing. "The third game is coming up quickly and the worry is sustaining any more injuries," said O'Neill. "I'm still trying to balance players coming back to fitness but by the same token you want to show people that you can play a bit and I thought we did that in the second-half."

Villa were one down early on but scored three goals inside 25 minutes to turn the game on its head.

"We showed a lot of character I was really pleased with the team not just the young lads, but the seniors for the application that they showed in the second half," O'Neill added.

CAPTION(S):

Martin O'Neill.