By Dan Harrison

Curtis Davies was delighted to have finished the season with a clean sheet, given the quality of strikers Villa were up against.

As well as starting pair Mark Viduka and Obafemi Martins, Newcastle threw on Michael Owen and Shola Ameobi in search of an equaliser but all four forwards were shut out by Villa's solid back four.

Davies told AVTV: "It was pleasing, especially with the standard of strikers they had on. Martins and Viduka are a handful on their own and to throw on Michael Owen with half an hour left and then Shola Ameobi I think they ended up with four or five up front.

"But to be fair I think me and Carlos (Cuellar) did quite well aerially and managed to kill most of the threat when they were trying to knock the long balls."

Unfortunately for Villa, the 1-0 win over the Magpies was not enough to pip Everton to fifth after the Toffees won at Fulham.

Despite going into the game knowing they could have a huge impact on the Barclays Premier League relegation battle, Davies insists all Villa were concerned about was trying to catch David Moyes' team.

He added: "Going into the game it wasn't about Newcastle trying to stay up, doing favours for them or doing favours for anyone else.

"It was about winning the game for us because obviously we knew if we could win the game and Everton either drew or lost we had a chance to finish a bit higher.

"Unfortunately Everton went and won anyway but the main thing is we finished with more points than last year. So it's progression and hopefully next season we can step on again."