Vassell goal gets Villa off the mark

Aston Villa 1 Manchester City 0

The England striker struck his and Villa’s first league goal of the season after 65 minutes.

It was no more than Villa deserved for upping their game after the interval after a forgettable first 45 minutes.

Prospective new signing and former Manchester United defender Ronny Johnsen, who had talks yesterday about a possible move to Villa, watched from the stands.

Villa’s winning margin would have been greater had the 6ft 7in Peter Crouch not spurned a hat-trick of gilt-edged opportunities.

For Villa Lee Hendrie and Mark Kinsella impressed in the centre while Olof Mellberg was a rock in defence.

The first half was uninspiring with both sides guilty of a string of misplaced passes.

The first chance fell to Nicolas Anelka after 14 minutes when he latched onto a reverse pass from Sylvain Distin but screwed his low shot across the face of Peter Enckelman’s goal.

Villa started to look more menacing in the closing third of the opening period and Crouch missed two good opportunities. He looked to have done the hard work when he rose at the far post to get onto the end of a deep free-kick from Kinsella.

But instead of heading the ball towards goal he made a complete hash of the situation and guided it harmlessly back across the City penalty area.

The ex Portsmouth player had a better chance a minute before the interval to break the deadlock.

Hendrie and Juan Pablo Angel both stepped over the ball inside the City penalty area and Crouch found Peter Schmeichel to beat only 12 yards from goal. But his shot lacked conviction.

In between Anelka hit the crossbar with a glancing header from a Benarbia cross but was adjudged to be offside.

Villa manager Graham Taylor brought on Jlloyd Samuel for Alan Wright at half-time and there was a marked improvement from the team.

Crouch was guilty of another glaring miss when he was first to react to a cross from Hendrie only to send his powerful header wide.

Then Schmeichel turned a curling effort from Hendrie around the post.

Crouch continued to cause problems but again his scoring touch deserted him as he powered a header over the crossbar following a centre by Barry.

It was now one-way traffic towards the City goal, although the quality of crosses delivered by Villa from dead-ball situations still left a lot to be desired.

But they deservedly went ahead after 65 minutes through Vassell following a left-wing free-kick from Hendrie.

The ball bounced up off Steve Howey and Crouch in the area before falling to Vassell who made no mistake even though Schmeichel got a hand to the ball.

City responded and Enckelman had to tip a deflected crossfrom Shaun Wright-Phillips over the bar.

Substitute Shaun Goater sent a glancing header across goal but it was too little, too late for City.

ASTON VILLA: Enckelman, Delaney, Mellberg, Staunton, Wright (Samuel 45), Hendrie, Kinsella, Barry, Angel (Allback 88), Crouch, Vassell.

MANCHESTER CITY: Schmeichel, Jihai, Howey, Distin, Wright-Phillips, Benarbia, Foe, Berkovic (Tiatto 67), Jensen, Anelka, Huckerby (Goater 80).

Referee: F: D Pugh (Merseyside).