... before Martins went down injured. But it was Emre who concerned him, and that was the reason for the substitution with Nicky Butt. Then came the injury.
Oba Martins was carried off on a stretcher with what, fortunately, was to prove only to be a dead leg, just five minutes after the last substitute. And it was a gamble that went sadly wrong.
Roeder: "When Oba was carried off it meant that we had to play out the last half-hour with only 10 men and it really kicked us where it hurts.
"Emre already had one yellow card and the mood he was in meant that he could have got another and at 2-0 and the last thing we wanted was somebody sent off.
"In any case I have every confidence in Nicky Butt these days - that is why I made the switch and when he came on he did well or as well as he could. However, if you do not take a chance in life you will never win anything. At that stage we were 2-0 down and we had to go for it. I cannot look into the future and see if one of our players is going to be injured or not."
"It was disappointing to lose at Villa but I have no reason to think we will not beat Fulham at St James' Park a week on Saturday."