Martin O'Neill this evening hailed his players for clinching a place in next season's Intertoto Cup and then vowed to bring in reinforcements for the 2008-09 campaign.

The 2-2 draw at West Ham was enough for Villa to finish sixth in the Barclays Premier League - that means a return to action in July.

And O'Neill was full of praise for his players, telling www.avfc.co.uk: "We've ended the season with 60 points and in most years that would have been enough to qualify automatically for Europe.

"Last season we would have walked it and even seventh place got automatically into Europe 12 months ago. "So from that aspect it's disappointing but it shouldn't mask the fact that we've come on leaps and bounds from last season.

"To do it with the smallest squad in the Premier League has made it particularly impressive but that's something we would want to address in the summer."