Gareth Barry may have turned himself into public enemy number one among Birmingham City supporters, but he showed no penitence after the Second City derby.

Barry is a Villa player who has had to suffer more than most over the years, as Birmingham fans have often vented their spleen in his direction.

An unassuming character off the pitch, Barry and Lee Hendrie are often the target of Blues fans' ire but Barry echoed the pre-match thoughts of many Villa supporters when he professed that a Villa win pushing Birmingham closer to relegation would cause him no problems whatsoever.

After talking the talk prior to this fixture, Barry could finally walk the walk afterwards with a 3-1 victory leaving Birmingham deep in the relegation quicksand.

While Barry has had to wait four years to taste his first top-flight victory over Birmingham, it has been 23 years since Peter Withe's goal gave Villa a win over their local rivals at Villa Park. So, for Barry, it was long overdue.

"It is a little bit of pay-back and if we had done the double over them in the last three or four years then they might have been down already," he said.

"Six points could have saved them. A lot can happen in the next four games and good luck to them in their fight to try and stay clear of relegation," added a smiling Barry with more than a hint of duplicity in his voice.

"The first thing was for the players to try and get to safety and if that means sending Birmingham down then so be it.

"It is a bonus for supporters and that is what the players try and do. We want to make the supporters happy.

"In previous years they have had the better of it. To get the double means a lot to the players and supporters.

"It was a great atmosphere and you could tell from the warm up that there was something extra special about this one.

"The buzz when we trotted out for the warm up was extra special and when we scored the crowd went from strength to strength."

Barry singled out his oftchastised team- mate Jlloyd Samuel for praise.

The defender has endured a torrid campaign, which has seen him receive fierce criticism from supporters and slowly be edged out of David O' Leary's plans.

Yet he produced easily his most polished performance of the campaign against Birmingham.

"It has been tough for JLloyd and a tough season with one thing or another. In a game like that the supporters can lift even players who are supposed to have low confidence," added Barry.

"You can tell that was the case with Jlloyd as he was one of our star men.

"Everyone knows what Milan (Baros) can do on his day, as he is a top-class player and one of the best in Europe.

"Hopefully he can stay fit for next season and push on. Of course we want him to stop as he is a class player and we need more like him at the club."