McGrath stars for Villa reserves - January 23, 2001
Aston Villa's 20-year-old Irish underage international John McGrath shone well above the rest of a star-studded Villa reserve side in their 4-3 defeat against Liverpool last night.
McGrath, who started the new year as part of John Gregory's plans with two substitute appearances and a place on the bench, has since lost his place in the first-team squad - but his performance last night will make the Villa manager rethink his decision.
Limerick-born McGrath, playing alongside Julian Joachim, Ian Taylor, David Ginola and Mark Delaney, opened the scoring in the ninth minute before Diomede hit back eleven minutes later.
Villa took the lead again just on the stroke of half time through Ian Taylor but they could not hold out until the break as Liverpool answered back immediately.
A Richie Partridge-inspired Liverpool then raced into a two-goal lead but McGrath had the last say with a 25-yard free kick in the final minute to make the score 4-3.