Aston Villa experienced that winning feeling for the first time in nearly
three months as goals from Mark Draper, Julian Joachim and Dion Dublin piled on
the relegation worries for Southampton at Villa Park.
Draper grabbed his first Premiership goal of the campaign and, after the
Saints had defender Claus Lundekvam sent off in controversial circumstances,
leading scorer Julian Joachim pounced for a lucky 13th of the season.
Then the bonus with 60 seconds remaining was a first goal in open play in 1999
for Dion Dublin.
Victory enabled Villa to end a disastrous run of 10 league games without a win
which had yielded only three points and seen them slip from serious title
contenders into also rans in the scrap for a UEFA Cup spot.
It was hardly vintage stuff from John Gregory's side but they would have
willingly taken three points under any circumstances after their recent run and
in truth should have won in more convincing fashion.
They created several gilt-edged chances via the likes of Steve Stone, Ian
Taylor, Lee Hendrie and Joachim but poor finishing and brave goalkeeping by Neil
Moss kept the scoreline down.
For Villa the pace of Joachim, the crosses and trickery of Stone on the right
flank and the creativity of substitute Paul Merson were all positive factors.
But one of the major talking points was the sending-off of Lundekvam which
meant the visitors had to play for 50 minutes with 10 men.
The Norwegian had already been booked when the referee brandished a second
yellow card in his direction after he had brought down Villa midfielder Taylor
in full flight as he bore down on goal.
The Scunthorpe official then went and consulted his flag-waving assistant and
awarded a free-kick to Southampton - but he still sent Lundekvam off amidst
furious protests from his team-mates.
Southampton battled bravely with Matt Le Tissier influential in the first half
but relegation is looming unless they improve on their dreadful away form - and
quickly.
The Saints have now taken just six points out of 51 on their travels and, even
if they win their last three home matches, they will almost certainly need to
take something tangible from their last two away games at Derby and Wimbledon to
have a chance of survival.
For once it was not an occasion when 10 men prove harder to beat than 11 as
Villa eventually won in a canter.
Villa were soon into their stride and Joachim was only inches wide with a
glancing header after less than 60 seconds from a deep centre by Alan Wright.
But Southampton played with surprising fluency given their lowly league
position and Egil Ostenstad squandered a great chance to give them a
fifth-minute lead.
A pin-point pass from the recalled Matt Le Tissier picked out Ostenstad who
burst into the Villa penalty area and found himself with only Mark Bosnich to
beat.
But the Norwegian international tried to place the ball wide of Bosnich who
was able to block his shot with his feet when he should have been given no
chance.
Chris Marsden then flashed a dipping 25-yard effort just past the post but in
the 13th minute Draper brought welcome relief to Villa with his first league
goal of the campaign.
The former Leicester player made a great run from midfield and shrugged off
the challenge of Marsden before planting a shot across the body of Saints keeper
Moss into the corner of the net.
Lundekvam then picked up his first yellow card after being caught out by the
turn of Joachim and from the resulting free-kick Moss turned over a curling
effort from Draper over the bar.
Stone then could have scored his first Villa goal after neat trickery by
Hendrie who had replaced the injured Alan Thompson - but his left-footed drive
flew high and wide from close range.
At the other end Le Tissier headed back across goal when well placed to try to
hit the target himself from a Scott Hiley cross.
But then came the controversial dismissal of Lundekvam and Villa missed two
great chances to increase their lead in the final five minutes of the first
half.
First Moss came racing out to save at the feet of Joachim but then Taylor shot
wide with the goal at his mercy.
Villa continued in the same vein after the interval with Hendrie sending a
glancing header across the face of goal from a Stone cross.
Le Tissier often found himself as the lone striker as Jones reverted to a
4-4-1 system.
But it was now one-way traffic towards the Saints goal and in the 66th minute
Villa effectively killed off the game.
Merson's clever chip picked out Joachim who shrugged off Ken Monkou before
cooly lobbing the ball over the advancing Moss.
Hendrie then shot wide from close range and Moss did well to deflect an effort
from Joachim for a corner but in the 89th minute Dublin struck to send the Villa
fans home happy.
Stone was again in acres of space and had time to deliver a cross to the far
post which the unmarked Dublin headed past the exposed Moss.
Teams
Aston Villa: Bosnich, Watson, Calderwood, Southgate, Wright,
Stone, Draper (Merson 57), Taylor, Thompson (Hendrie 5),
Dublin (Barry 89), Joachim.
Subs Not Used: Vassell, Oakes.
Goals: Draper 13, Joachim 66, Dublin 89.
Southampton: Moss, Hiley, Monkou, Lundekvam, Colleter (Hirst 72),
D. Hughes, Dodd, Marsden, Le Tissier, M. Hughes (Benali 53),
Ostenstad (Ripley 85).
Subs Not Used: Beattie, Stensgaard.
Sent Off: Lundekvam (40).
Booked: Lundekvam, Monkou.
Att: 32,203
Ref: N Barry (Scunthorpe).
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