Martin O'Neill was delighted his England goalkeeper Scott Carson did just as he had predicted and ignored the boo-boys and heckling to turn in a competent performance and another clean sheet for Villa in their 3-0 victory over Middlesbrough.
The Villa No 1 was roundly booed and jeered throughout the 90 minutes at The Riverside by the Boro supporters after his errors at Wembley in midweek cost England dear. But the 22-year-old - on loan from Liverpool - made sure nothing slipped through his fingers this time. And in the end his performance, including a couple of crucial saves, had the Villa contingent chanting his name and endorsing the fact that to them at least he is still very much England's first choice.
O'Neill said: "I must make special mention of Scott Carson. We knew he would have a difficult game because of the result last Wednesday night.
"We watched some of the Newcastle-Liverpool game on television before our match and saw the way the Newcastle crowd was treating Steven Gerrard so we realised there might be some stick from the crowd here but I thought Scott coped marvellously with it all.
"Of course we didn't help him settle by putting a back pass in to him in the first minute of the game which he consequently skewed a bit when he kicked it but after that the lad got on with it and he was great for us.
"Luckily our own crowd was behind the goal with him and definitely helped him."
O'Neill - who has ruled himself out of the running for the England managerial vacancy - said he understood why fans would turn on those international players they felt had let them down because football was such a passionate sport.
He said: "I think it is inevitable supporters will boo England players after the result the other night. I think it is one of those things that you come to expect.
"None of those England players set out to lose that game but it may take a week or two for the crowd up and down the country to get it out of the system because they are passionate about their own national side.
"They wanted them to get through and they will be disapppointed they haven't. That disappointment will be vented at someone and it is the players involved in the game who will suffer."
The Northern Irishman continued: "I would hope in a week or two, when people get it out of their system, that things will settle down and then players can get on with it."
The game - Villa's third successive back-to-back victory and their third in succesive trips to Teesside - saw them rise to seventh in the Premier League table. O'Neill said: "I was particularly pleased how the team fared after coming back from the international break - a factor which has affected the team in the past.
"In the past we have won games going into the international break and then lost ones coming out of it."
