Martin O'Neill, the Aston Villa manager, has applauded the "character" shown by Scott Carson since his England nightmare against Croatia.

In his first competitive start for his country, the 22-year-old's blunder saw England fall behind early on in last month's final European Championship qualifier at Wembley. The 3-2 defeat cost England a place at next summer's finals and saw manager Steve McClaren sacked.

However, Carson has maintained his fine club form keeping two clean sheets in his three matches since. "Carson has been doing very well for us," O'Neill said. "We are very pleased with him. He has had a very tough time for one so relatively young.

"He has shown a bit of strength of character, and that is always encouraging."

England's under-performing stars have endured abuse from rival fans since returning to their clubs from international duty, but O'Neill highlighted the positive response Villa supporters have given Carson since the Croatia match. "In the games he have played since, he has had a big, vociferous support behind the goals behind him in both away games, and then he was given great encouragement by the reaction of the fans at Villa Park at the weekend.

"That doesn't mean, like all goalkeepers, that he can't make mistakes, but he is a very strong person and he is staying very focused."

Carson is on a season-long loan at Villa Park from Liverpool and O'Neill has made no secret of his desire to make the move permanent.

However, he yesterday refuted reports a £10 million fee had been agreed between the clubs.