Aston Villa - 1 Manchester City - 0:SOCCER/English FA Premiership: Aston Villa finally showed signs of life last night when their first goal of the campaign resulted in their first victory.

The England striker Darius Vassell was the player responsible for ending the famine but, had Villa taken their chances against an uncharacteristically impotent City side, they could have won by a distance.

Peter Crouch was the most culpable of Villa's strikers while a solid defensive display suggests the watching Ronnie Johnsen, who is having talks with the club, will have problems breaking into the team.

Villa's manager Graham Taylor opted to start the game the way his side had finished at Tottenham on Saturday with a 4-3-3 formation.Whatever the reason, Villa's purposeful approach negated City's numerical superiority in midfield and resulted in some early employment for Peter Schmeichel.

The Danish keeper, making his first return to Villa Park since leaving for Maine Road at the end of last season, had to react smartly to intercept Lee Hendrie's speculative effort.

City, with the pacy Nicolas Anelka partnering the equally fleet-footed Darren Huckerby in attack, posed an occasional threat on the break. In the 15th minute Anelka, after collecting Sylvain Distain's through-ball and skipping past Olof Mellberg, hit a cross-shot which just evaded the far post.

By contrast, Villa's favoured attacking option was to aim for the head of their towering striker Crouch, a tactic that should have reaped a reward after half an hour.

Hendrie crossed from the right but Crouch, instead of heading at goal, nodded the ball down into no-man's land and the chance was lost.

Villa's unceasing pressure made a goal seem inevitable and, when it arrived in the 64th minute, just as inevitably, Hendrie was involved. City only partially cleared his free-kick from the left and Vassell volleyed the ball into the roof of Schmeichel's net.

ASTON VILLA: Enckelman, Delaney, Mellberg, Staunton, Wright (Samuel 45), Hendrie, Kinsella, Barry, Angel (Allback 88), Crouch, Vassell. Subs Not Used: Hitzlsperger, Postma, De la Cruz. Booked: Barry. Goals: Vassell 64.

MAN CITY: Schmeichel, Jihai, Howey, Distin, Wright-Phillips, Benarbia, Foe, Berkovic (Tiatto 67), Jensen, Anelka, Huckerby (Goater 80). Subs Not Used: Horlock, Nash, Dunne. Booked: Foe, Howey, Jihai.

Referee: D Pugh (Merseyside).