Batty goal unhinges fragile Villa

Aston Villa looked a worried team yesterday. Newcastle United, on the other hand, merely looked concerned and won an undistinguished match at Villa Park with a goal of extreme rarity from David Batty shortly before the hour.

Newcastle's second victory in three Premiership games has restored them to the top half of the table; for the moment their situation, if unspectacular, is relatively safe. Villa, however, continue to flirt with the beginnings of a relegation problem.

Things are so tight in the Premiership's middle areas that had Villa won yesterday they would have risen five places to 10th, the position Newcastle are again occupying. As it is Brian Little's team remain just four points away from the bottom three.

Maybe the idea of Aston Villa appearing in the Nationwide First Division next season is still a might fanciful, but their last league victory was on St Stephen's Day and after a 5-0 rout at Blackburn in their previous Premiership fixture the Villa supporters were anxious for signs of atonement.

Instead they saw an Aston Villa side with its confidence shot to pieces struggling to come to terms with opponents who appeared to be turning the corner after a bad Christmas and New Year. While Newcastle hardly took the breath away with the ambitious sweep of their football, they defended solidly enough and were better at the basics of tackling and passing with Andreas Andersson, their Swedish signing from Milan, holding the ball up diligently near goal.

It is surely no coincidence that the return of Alan Shearer to Newcastle's attack has been accompanied by a sharp upturn in results. This was Shearer's fourth appearance since recovering from the ankle injuries which had kept him out for more the half the season, and with each game he is regaining more of his old acumen.

Had Keith Gillespie made more intelligent use of the positions his pace was winning him on the right wing Shearer might well have added a goal or two in the league to the one he headed into the Stevenage net in the FA Cup a week earlier. As it was the watching Stevenage manager, Paul Fairclough, could have been forgiven the odd shiver yesterday which was not entirely a product of the afternoon's chill. Shearer should prosper in Wednesday's replay.

Not that there was much else hold the interest yesterday. The first half amounted to little more than a pig's ear, Villa, meeting the sow's ear that Kenny Dalgish has made of the silk purse Kevin Keegan left behind.

Until half-time approached Newcastle could not even pass themselves off as thieving Magpies. Then Shearer ducked in to meet a dipping cross from Gillespie and while Mark Bosnich kept the ball out the moment was ominous for Villa and encouraging for their opponents.

Throughout the match neither side passed the ball consistently well or with much imagination, but Batty did not waste much and this did much to help Newcastle get a modicum of a game together. Aston Villa's midfield remained pedestrian and predictable and while Dwight Yorke frequently came deep to find space they never managed to sustain an attack long enough to exert serious pressure on Newcastle's defence.

Stan Collymore, in what was not his worst game for Aston Villa since joining from Liverpool, used his pace and strength to run at defenders in an attempt to expose Newcastle's cover. But neither he nor Yorke achieved much inside the penalty area, which was where Villa so desperately needed touches of inspiration.

Their best moment of the first half came in the 40th minute when Riccardo Scimeca nodded back Mark Draper's corner for Ugo Ehiogu to head a foot over the bar. Soon after half-time Yorke achieved a sharp shot through Stuart Pearce's legs but it did not trouble Hislop.

The goal arrived after 58 minutes and came from an error by Alan Wright, Villa's little left wing-back. A moment of hesitancy deep in his own half allowed Batty to gain possession. He drove the ball into the middle, where it was met by Shearer with a quick shot on the turn.

Ehiogu, who was never far away from the England striker, managed to block it but the ball rebounded straight back to Batty who now sent a low, finely-angle drive into the far corner of the net despite Bosnich getting both hands to it.

It was Batty's first goal since a prodigious 40-yard lob had found the Wimbledon net at the beginning of last season.

Aston Villa: Bosnich, Wright (Joachim 68), Scimeca, Southgate, Ehiogu, Grayson, Taylor, Draper, Hendrie, Yorke, Collymore. Subs Not Used: Charles, Nelson, Byfield, Oakes.

Newcastle United: Hislop, Gillespie, Beresford, Batty, Watson, Howey, Lee, Pistone, Shearer, Andersson (Tomasson 83), Pearce. Subs Not Used: Given, Ketsbaia, Albert, Griffin. Goals: Batty 58.

Referee: S J Lodge (Barnsley).