Stiliyan Petrov admits winning the Aston Villa's Players' and Supporters' Player of the Year awards is all the sweeter for the difficult time he had adjusting to life at Villa Park in 2006. "I'm delighted," said the Bulgarian. "All the players deserve to be in my place because there have been top performances from a lot of the boys in the team.

"I'm really happy I've won the two awards," said Petrov. "It's a big thing especially for me after the way my career started at Villa. It didn't start the way a lot of people expected it to start.

"I'm glad the fans gave me the opportunity to win this award and to have the backing of them and my team-mates.

"They have supported me all the way and that is great. When you feel part of this team it is a great honour.

"Maybe the award puts more pressure on me because next season I have to go out there and show everybody I deserve these two awards. So it's an even bigger challenge for me but one I'll accept."