Football; Sports World.

ASTON Villa manager Martin O'Neill saw his side miss out on qualification for the group stage of the Europa League. Villa defeated Rapid Vienna 2-1 in the return home leg last night but went out on the away goals rule as the tie finished 2-2 on aggregate.

A James Milner penalty and a solo goal from John Carew put Villa in control but Vienna struck with a late goal.

O'Neill said: "We should have had the game out of sight before they scored. They exerted some pressure at 2-0, which you would expect, but I thought we had a number of chances to go from 2-0 to 3-0 and that would have sealed the tie."

FULHAM manager Roy Hodgson admitted his side had been "stretched to the limit" after the Cottagers reached the group stages of the Europa League despite a 1-0 defeat to Amkar Perm in Russia.

Martin Kushev's late header secured victory for the home side, but Fulham prevailed 3-2 on aggregate despite being without six first-choice players.