Dion Hits The Marc With Support

Marcus Allback has revealed how Dion Dublin was one of the first to congratulate him on his midweek brace as Sweden beat Hungary 2-1 in Budapest.

And Allback, who hopes to return to Premiership action against Arsenal tomorrow (click here) has thanked leading scorer Dublin for his support throughout a difficult first season at Villa.

The striker, a ¢G2million arrival from Heerenveen last summer, commented: ¡§I put the phone on and there were more than two dozen messages of support, including one from Dion who has been very supportive to me when I have been feeling down.

"He's a great lad also, we get along fine. We sit quite close in the locker room and chat a lot. Dion is helping me, and a lot of other guys as well.

¡§That's important, guys like Olof Mellberg, Ronny Johnsen and Oyvind Leonhardsen- the lads that I 'hang out' with. They are supporting me a lot, as well as all the other guys.

"More or less everyone has been in this situation, so they know it's tough and you just have to dig in there and keep on fighting."