FH Hafnarfjordur 1-4 Aston Villa: Gareth Barry gave the strongest indication yet that he is committed to Aston Villa by playing and scoring in their Uefa Cup second qualifying round first leg win against FH Hafnarfjordur.

In front of watching England coach Fabio Capello in Reykjavik, Barry - whose appearance means he would be cup-tied in the Champions League should he move to Liverpool - capitalised on some terrible defending to stab Villa's opener in the fourth minute.

Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor also scored first-half goals at the Laugardalsvollur Stadium and although Matthias Gudmundsson pulled one back, Martin Laursen's second-half header secured his side a comfortable lead to take back to Villa Park.

Barry has been a target for Liverpool all summer and lost the captaincy for criticising Villa boss Martin O'Neill's handling of the move.

Nicky Shorey was handed his competitive debut at left-back while Marlon Harewood started up front against the Icelandic cup winners.

Like Shorey, goalkeeper Brad Friedel made his first start in a competitive Villa fixture while Curtis Davies completed his remarkable recovery from an Achilles tendon injury by starting alongside Martin Laursen in defence. Norway international striker John Carew missed out with a slight calf strain on the day Villa announced he has signed a one-year extension to his contract, keeping him at the club until 2011.

When Hafnarfjordur failed to clear a corner in the early stages they paid the price by conceding an early goal.

Young whipped the ball back into the box and some calamitous defending left Barry with a simple task to power the ball past goalkeeper Gunnar Sigurdsson from close range.

Young quickly made it 2-0 with a delightful individual effort. Finding himself in space on the left, he moved inside unopposed before turning a defender and side-footing the ball in off the post to double the lead after seven minutes.

After a quiet period - with Barry's performance somewhat understated after the goal - Olafur Johannesson's side wasted their best chance in the 27th minute when Atli Gudnason was picked out expertly by Dennis Siim but headed wastefully over.

They were given another good opportunity in the 32nd minute.

Bjorn Sverrisson threaded the ball into the area well and Matthias Gudmundsson was unfortunate to see his effort blocked well by Davies. Matthias Vihjalmsson then wasted the rebound by firing over the bar.

Agbonlahor matched Young's strike with a similarly silky solo goal seven minutes before the break.

Receiving the pass deep, he charged forward and showed determination to round two defenders before beating Sigurdsson with a cool finish.

Harewood found himself through on goal in space but wasted the one-on-one opportunity as Sigurdsson saved.

Hafnarfjordur then got the goal they deserved as Matthias Gudmundsson stooped to head home Tryggvi Gudmundsson's cross from the left.

The first significant action of the second half saw Barry booked in the 55th minute for bringing down Bjorn Sverrisson just outside the box as he broke forward at pace, though Siim's free-kick was blocked.

Barry nearly scored again with a header, but from Young's right-footed cross the midfielder could only steer the ball inches over the bar.

Another corner was won by Villa in the 63rd minute and Laursen capitalised to make it 4-1 - with the influential Young providing the cross from the set-piece.

As the young winger lifted the corner into the area, the classy Danish defender found himself in space to nod home.

In the meantime Gunnar Asgeirsson replaced David Vidarsson while for Villa, Stiliyan Petrov's quiet involvement was ended as he was replaced by Moustapha Salifou.

And substitute Asgeirsson came close to scoring with a bobbling long-range shot which Friedel did well to get his fingers to.

Both sides made further changes in the last 15 minutes as the effervescent Young, Villa's most potent creative force by some margin, was taken off and replaced by Wayne Routledge in the 71st minute.

A series of half-chances were exchanged at each end with neither goalkeeper troubled until Routledge's 85th-minute volley which Sigurdsson saved well after Barry's precise cross from the left.

Villa head home with a healthy lead to defend in the return leg a fortnight from now and while Capello may have travelled to Iceland primarily to watch Barry, Young was undoubtedly the most impressive Englishman on the field on the night.

Elsewhere this evening Manchester City lost 1-0 in the first leg qualifier at home to FC Midtjylland.