Two-goal Villa revival rolls on

GABRIEL Agbonlahor and Ashley Young maintained the Aston Villa resurgence with the second-half goals that saw off battling Wigan last night.

Gerard Houllier’s side pulled themselves further away from the Barclays Premier League relegation zone as they followed up last weekend’s uplifting win over Manchester City in impressive fashion at the DW Stadium.

Ireland’s James McCarthy marked his return from injury by pulling one back as Villa finished in nervy fashion but the visitors hung on to leave Wigan, with just one win in nine, in trouble in the bottom three.

Wigan looked composed and threatening for large spells but manager Roberto Martinez is unable to transform his team’s fortunes by spending £24m on one player like Villa appear to have done by signing Darren Bent.

Bent did not add to his debut goal but his arrival appears to have lifted the midlands club, who are now six points above the drop zone.

After a lively first half, Villa upped the tempo for the start of the second half as Young raced into the area from the halfway line and forced Al Habsi to palm over a fierce drive.

The visitors grabbed the lead from the resulting corner in the 49th minute.

Again Al Habsi did well to keep out Carlos Cuellar’s firm header but the ball ballooned into the air and Agbonlahor reacted quickest to nod it over the line as it came down.

Young doubled Villa’s lead from the penalty spot after being brought down clumsily by Hendry Thomas just after the hour.

The Villa captain made no mistake as he sent Al Habsi the wrong way with a powerful strike.

Bent almost grabbed a third as he raced onto an Agbonlahor through ball but Al Habsi rushed out to deny him again.

Wigan did not give up and pulled a goal back 10 minutes from time, al it required a huge slice of luck.

There seemed little danger as McCarthy lined up a shot from 30 yards but the ball took a huge deflection off Collins and wrong-footed Friedel to end up in the bottom corner.

The Wigan fans thought they had an equaliser to celebrate moments later but Rodallega flashed inches wide from the edge of the area.

WIGAN: Al Habsi, Gohouri, Boyce (Stam 66), Steven Caldwell, Figueroa, McArthur, McCarthy (McManaman 85), Thomas (Watson 66), N’Zogbia, Di Santo, Rodallega.

ASTON VILLA: Friedel, Cuellar, Dunne, Collins, Baker, Makoun (Petrov 57), Reo-Coker, Downing, Agbonlahor (Albrighton 77), Bent, Ashley Young (Herd 88).

Referee: Jon Moss (W Yorkshire).