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ASTON Villa manager Martin O’Neill hailed the performance of rookie defender Ciaran Clark as his side overcame Fulham 2-0 at Villa Park. Clark, the England Under-19 captain, was thrown in at the deep end after Curtis Davies failed to recover from his recurring shoulder problem. The youngster did not put a foot wrong as Villa registered their first home league win of the campaign.

A first-half own goal and Gabriel Agbonlahor’s first goal of the season wrapped up the points. O’Neill said: “Unfortunately Curtis has suffered a recurrence of the shoulder problem and will see a specialist in midweek, but Clark took it in his stride when I told him he was going to be playing. He looked around as if he kind of expected it.

O’Neill is still trying to sign Manchester City defender Richard Dunne and will step up his attempts to bolster his squad in the next 48 hours.

Fulham manager Roy Hodgson refused to blame his side’s midweek trip to Russia for a Europa League qualifier for his side’s defeat. He said: “It was a very poor performance from us. We can’t choose the excuse of tiredness. We have to find the energy and do better.”

EVERTON grabbed their first league points of the season thanks to an injury-time penalty from Leighton Baines after struggling to subdue a defiant Wigan. Some of Wigan’s tackling – they picked up six bookings – enraged the Goodison Park faithful but it looked as if Roberto Martinez’s men were going to grab a point at least.

They led early in the second period through a Paul Scharner header before Louis Saha grabbed his fourth goal of the season to pull Everton level. And the home side had to wait until the third minute of injury-time and Emmerson Boyce’s foul on Jo for Baines to have the chance to smash home the winner.

The decision to award the penalty left Wigan manager Roberto Martinez feeling miffed at the overall standard of refereeing by Lee Probert.

“With their penalty, Jo was very clever and he could see the tackle coming, he left his standing leg there for the contact. I am not sure just how much contact there was,” said Martinez.

Defender Sylvain Distin made his Everton debut while another new signing, £10 million Russian winger Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, was on the bench. After the match, manager David Moyes promised more signings were on the way with a deal for Atletico Madrid’s Dutch defender Johnny Heitinga well advanced. Everton have offered £5million for the Dutchman, but Moyes admits there is still work to be done before the deal is finalised.

Everton started brightly, with Tim Cahill seeing a diving header from a Baines corner go just wide, before Michael Pollitt did well to turn over a fierce 12-yarder from Jack Rodwell. They then almost scored with the best move of the half. Rodwell’s turn and pass finding Leon Osman, who sent Cahill racing away down the left. The Australian’s cross found Saha powering into the six-yard box, but Pollitt managed to get his body in the way of the striker’s shot.

But it was Wigan who broke the deadlock after 56 minutes. Charles N’Zogbia crossed from the right and Scharner arrived unmarked on the far post to score with a diving header. Everton, however, were level after 62 minutes, Saha emerging from a ruck of players to head home a Baines corner.

Everton then sent on Fellaini for Osman and in the melee of the first corner after the Belgian arrived, Joseph Yobo saw a towering header cleared off the line by Hendry. The pressure on Wigan increased and three minutes into injury-time, Boyce brought down Jo and Baines smashed home the penalty.

Moyes, understandably, had a different view of penalty incident to his counterpart Martinez and the Scot felt the decision could well be pivotal to his side’s season.

Emmanuel Adebayor’s header on the half-hour maintained a 100 per cent record for both teams. City have won their first three Premier games without conceding a goal, while Pompey have yet to acquire a point and, although only one goal separated these two hastily assembled teams, it was clear which one possessed the greatest quality.

Gareth Barry and Stephen Ireland purred in front of City’s back four, Shay Given remains immense and Adebayor played with an appetite lacking at  Arsenal last season. Paul Hart can take some credit for knocking his trolley-dash team into something loosely resembling an organised unit but this looks likely to be a grim campaign at Fratton Park.

Micah Richards, who suffered a knee injury which may rule him out of the England Under 21 squad, thought he had added a second goal before the break but it was wrongly ruled out for offside. Barry was stood offside but did not interfere with play. Richards arrived late to finish Craig Bellamy’s cross and was clearly onside. It might have proved more controversial if Richard Hughes and David Nugent had not wasted clear chances for Pompey.

‘I was encouraged by the performance,’ said Hart. ‘If we retain that spirit and willingness to work, we will turn this around.’

Adebayor, the £25million arrival from Arsenal, grabbed the only goal of the game in the 1-0 win at Portsmouth, his third in as many Barclays Premier League games, as City maintained their 100% start to the season.

“It’s clear to see he is happy where he is,” said Hughes. “He’s enjoying playing with good players again and the fans love him. That maybe was missing from his life before.

“I thought he was superb. There was a lot said about Ade as a player and a person – a lot of it with a negative slant. You can only judge people on how you find them and he’s come in and wants to be successful. Those negative things people said I haven’t seen.

“He’s enjoying the team he’s in. He could be at the start of something special and wants to play a big part in that.”