De la Cruz scores first for Villa

Aston Villa 2 Charlton 0

De la Cruz - signed from Hibernian for £2 million in the summer - struck midway through the second half and then Moore sealed the victory six minutes from time. Villa, operating a 3-5-2 system with Johnsen sitting just in front of the defence, showed plenty of hustle and bustle in the early stages. Angel was well off-target with an ambitious header from the edge of the penalty area following a cross by Ulises de la Cruz.

However, the Colombia international produced the first testing moment of the game with Dean Kiely forced to turn his low shot around the post after Jlloyd Samuel had laid the ball into his path just inside the Charlton area. Gareth Barry was on the receiving end of a heavy challenge from Chris Bart-Williams, but the Charlton midfielder escaped with a ticking-off from referee Graham Poll. Charlton produced the best move to date after 35 minutes and it needed a good low save to deny Claus Jensen after he had combined well with Mathias Svensson and Jason Euell, but Villa quickly retaliated and Kiely pulled off a fine save away to his right to keep out a Staunton header from an in-swinging Barry free kick. Then Olof Mellberg stole in at the far post to get on the end of an in-swinging free-kick from Kinsella while under pressure from Euell only for his header to be deflected.

There were no half-time substitutions from either side and Angel conceded an early free-kick for a foul on Rufus. Barry found the overlapping Samuel in a yard of space but he over-ran the ball and Chris Powell was able to intercept. De la Cruz over-hit his cross from the right flank but the ball fell to Allback who tried an ambitious effort from the edge of the area with which he failed to make proper contact and Kiely collected easily.

Mellberg brought down Euell 35 yards out but the Villa defender was on hand to clear a poor free-kick from Bart-Williams.

There was little to enthuse about in the early stages of the second period as Villa continued to probe more in hope than with any conviction. Angel found himself with half a chance but Kiely reacted smartly to save at the feet of the former River Plate player.

At the other end, John Robinson was well off target with a 25-yard effort and the play was almost totally devoid of any inspiration.

Kiely did well to hold onto a deep cross from Samuel but he was relieved to see the ball ricochet into his hands after Staunton had got in a header at the near post from a Kinsella corner.

Robinson became the first player to be booked after 66 minutes for a touch-line challenge on de la Cruz.

Kiely continued to be the busier of the two keepers and he turned a glancing header from Angel around the post.

ASTON VILLA: Enckelman, Mellberg, Alpay, Staunton, De la Cruz, Kinsella, Johnsen, Samuel, Barry, Allback, Angel.

CHARLTON: Kiely, Young, Rufus, Fortune, Powell, Kishishev, Jensen, Bart-Williams, Robinson, Euell, Svensson.