Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink stole the limelight from stressed-out striker Stan Collymore with a devastating double to leave John Gregory worrying over an Aston Villa breakdown.

All the talk before kick-off was about the shock inclusion of Collymore on the substitutes' bench when the club record £7million star was believed to have been weeks away from a return.

But at the end of the 90 minutes the words of praise were all for Hasselbaink as he scored two stunning goals to take his tally for the season to 14.

Little was expected to be seen of Collymore, who has been undergoing rehabilitation in a private clinic for stress and depression, until next month at the earliest.

Collymore went AWOL on the morning of Villa's surprise 2-0 FA Cup fourth round defeat at home to Fulham on January 23, and has come in for severe criticism from all quarters since.

Gregory has been on the brink of losing his patience with the 28-year-old on several occasions and Collymore is now almost certainly drinking in the last chance saloon.

With Leeds leading 2-0 he came on for the closing 18 minutes to a rapturous reception from the Villa faithful, despite having been given a muted reception when his name was read out over the tannoy before kick-off.

His introduction paid immediate dividends, even if he didn't play his part in the 76th-minute goal which gave Villa hope of pulling a point out of the bag.

All the damage had been done in the first half as Hasselbaink sent Gregory's side tumbling to their fourth straight defeat - kickstarted by the Cup and now followed by three in the league.

Their hopes of championship glory have been fading fast over the last month, just like the confident, composed football which had originally taken them to the summit for so long.

Gregory's constant and frantic pacing of the touchline underlined his concern over a Villa side that, on the evidence of this showing, could struggle to reach Europe, never mind the Champions' League.

It took just seven minutes for Gregory's problems on-the-pitch to mount as Leeds ended their Premiership goalscoring drought with Hasselbaink's 13th goal of the season.

The Dutch international had managed just one goal in his eight previous matches prior to tonight, but had vowed before kick-off to end that barren run and did so in scintillating style.

Hasselbaink picked up a long ball out of the Leeds half and after striding powerfully towards the Villa goal, holding off the challenge of Gareth Barry in the process, he finished with fierce accuracy beyond Michael Oakes from 12 yards to end 250 minutes of goalless top flight football for the visitors.

It then went from bad to worse for the home side in the 32nd minute, with Hasselbaink curling home a stunning free-kick, won courtesy of the persistence of on-loan winger Willem Korsten.

The Dutchman refused to give up the chase for a ball just outside the Villa area, eventually being caught by skipper Gareth Southgate - in the side after missing England's 2-0 defeat by France last week with a hip problem.

It was then left to Hasselbaink to delightfully curl home into the top right-hand corner his 14th of the campaign from 20 yards, with Oakes virtually rooted to the spot.

Hasselbaink should have had a hat-trick five minutes before the break, latching onto Harry Kewell's precision ball and pushing away Southgate, and although Oakes was beaten again, the woodwork came to his rescue.

Lee Hendrie had gone close in the first period, with Scimeca also stinging the fingers of Nigel Martyn but, despite a dominant second-half show, Villa only had the one goal to show for their efforts.

Alan Thompson, on as a 66th-minute substitute for Barry, swung over a corner for Scimeca to head home his second of the season.

Julian Joachim fired into the body of Martyn and Collymore went close with a flick header in the closing stages.

But it was Leeds who picked up their first Premiership win for a month to move up to fifth and revive their hopes of a place in Europe next season.

Teams

Aston Villa: Oakes, Wright, Southgate, Watson, Taylor, Merson, Joachim, Dublin (Collymore 72), Barry (Thompson 66), Hendrie,Scimeca.

Subs Not Used: Grayson, Samuel, Enckelman.

Goals: Scimeca 76.

Leeds: Martyn, Haaland, Radebe, Wetherall, Korsten, Hasselbaink, Hopkin, Halle, Kewell, Harte, Jones (Granville 82).

Subs Not Used: Wijnhard, Knarvik, Smith, Robinson.

Booked: Hasselbaink.

Goals: Hasselbaink 8, 32.

Att: 37,510

Ref: D Gallagher (Banbury).