Twelve minutes later Hassan atoned for his part in the goal, finding himself in acres of space and hitting a swerving shot from 30 yards which keeper Carlos Kameni allowed to bounce in front of him and into the net.
As well as the turf, Villa were also doing their best to stop the Blues from hitting their stride by working hard to limit any space for Lampard in midfield and chasing back when Cole or Malouda tried to attack down the wings.
On Sunday he went around the ball a lot and when you do that you give up a lot of court space, so your success depends on your balance when hitting that shot as that is what operates the face of the racket.
But the Ireland bowlers were hitting their straps and an inspired spell from Cusack resulted in the removal of Jehan Mubarak and then Jayawardene in the space of four deliveries.