Champagne corks may still popping over the north side of the city as Villa fans celebrate the weekend's 2-1 victory over Birmingham City but the result also meant a great deal to the players.

And for two of Martin O'Neill's more experienced team-members it meant an awful lot as they had played through the derbies of the past which had ended at times with horrendous results for Villa.

Swedish defender Olof Mellberg and Villa's skipper Gareth Barry knew how important a win was to the Villa faithful because they had played in games where the claret and blue side of the city had been left humiliated - beaten easily by their so-called city underdogs.

Mellberg conceded Sunday's performance against Steve Bruce's players had not been the best ever but said in the end all that mattered was the three points which now push Villa up to eighth in the Premier League - a full ten points ahead of their city rivals.

Mellberg said: "I don't think we played that well. Fortunately we got the win in the end. That was our first away win of the season and it was fantastic to get that and I am sure it will have lifted everyone - the whole club and the fans and everything."

Mellberg said he believed the team now had momentum after back-to-back wins over Bolton, Derby and Blues.

He said: "This was another example of the knack of being able to win when not playing well. Last week we did it against Derby - we didn't play that well and yet we got the win.

"There only a couple of us left who have experienced the whole derby journey since Birmingham came up quite a few years ago and that is Gareth and myself.

"For us two I don't think we needed firing up for the game really. We've had everything in these derbies over the year especially since that first game at St Andrew's . They were strange games, people storming the pitch - we had everything.

"It is fantastic to get another win over them. As I say these games are special for us especially after what happened in those first few encounters and I think myself, Gareth, all the local boys enjoyed this one."

Mellberg says he is still haunted by his first derby with Blues back in 2003 when it was the royal blue supporters celebrating at the final whistle after securing a shock win over their rivals following a 16 year spell apart.

He said: "That first game was one of the low points of my career. That was the first one for many years. It was a very special game for them as well. It was a very different game with the freak goal and the fans storming the pitch after every goal. Someone abused our 'keeper and then there was all sorts happening for a couple of games after that.

"I think that when you go to places like St Andrew's you know it is a really tough place to go and there is huge rivalry between the teams and you can really sense it.

"But the memories of those early games drive you on. I saw their manager mentioning in the papers that we don't want to see Villa celebrating at St. Andrews in front of our fans. But that is what happened. It is a fantastic feeling for us."

The Swedish Ice-man said he had been impressed that Martin O'Neill's young squad had managed the occasion and not been over-awed at all.

He said: "I don't think the young lads were overawed at all. They are on a high and playing - people like Gabby (Agbonlahor) and Ashley (Young) - are full of confidence.

"When you are full of confidence, it doesn't matter who you play. You want these kind of games when you have this confidence. I thought it was alright on the pitch and has been for a few seasons now when we've played Blues.

"It might have been different when they first came up and maybe they had different players. I don't know if any on their side were from that first game - maybe just the 'keeper Maik Taylor.

"But at least there was nothing bad on the pitch this time and we are very happy with the win."