Friedel hails resolute Villa

Friedel: Man of the match

Aston Villa goalkeeper Brad Friedel was delighted to secure a 'massive' point at Chelsea following a superb individual display.

"We needed to kick-start something and it's great to start it here at Stamford Bridge."
Brad Friedel Quotes of the week

The shot-stopper, named man-of-the-match, made numerous crucial saves at Stamford Bridge on Sunday as Gerard Houllier's men held the reigning Premier League champions to a 3-3 draw with a late Ciaran Clark equaliser.

And the 'keeper was thrilled to see Villa get back on track after a disappointing run of results.

"It was a massive one," Friedel told Sky Sports News. "We've been in such a bad run of form that we just needed something.

"We needed to kick-start something and it's great to start it here at Stamford Bridge.

"When we went down 3-2 we thought 'here's another one lost' but all credit to the lads, we got over what I thought was a poor penalty decision against us in the first half and we just kept fighting back."

Heartening

Friedel hopes the heartening draw will prove the turning point in Villa's campaign, adding: "Hopefully now we can start our season from here and climb up the table.

"We've just had such a bad run of results that we all just pulled together.

"You've got to draw a line under it at some stage and I think we showed today collectively we've got a lot of fight and we're going to have a lot of fight in us for the rest of the season.

"There comes a time when the talking has to stop and you just have to play.

"And I think today the boys showed a lot of true grit and determination to at least get something out of it.

"Today was just about grinding out something and luckily enough we did. There was a different feel about us today, and a lot more determination."