Aston Villa ... 2 Charlton ... 0 Ecuador international Ulises de la Cruz and youth team product Stefan Moore both scored their first goals for Aston Villa to earn them their second Premiership win of the season at the expense of Charlton Athletic at Villa Park.
De la Cruz - signed from Hibernian for £2 million in the summer - struck mid-way through the second half and then Moore, a key figure in Villa's FA Youth Cup triumph last season, sealed victory six minutes from time.
It was no more than Villa deserved with a drastically reshaped team and new formation after the first four games of the season had produced only one goal and three points.
Graham Taylor has called for supporters to be realistic and patient as he attempts to rebuild the club and, although never totally convincing, his side showed plenty of purpose and attacking intent.
Jlloyd Samuel and De la Cruz made plenty of positive runs down both flanks and record signing Juan Pablo Angel was always a handful for the Charlton defence.
The visitors were indebted to some fine saves from Dean Kiely for keeping them in the hunt although they may reflect on a glaring miss by Luke Young at 1-0.
Taylor made five changes from the side beaten at Bolton with Lee Hendrie, Alan Wright, Peter Crouch, the injured Darius Vassell and Mark Delaney making way for Alpay, Marcus Allback, de la Cruz, Samuel and Ronny Johnsen.
The Villa chief also reverted to a 3-5-2 formation with debutant Johnsen operating just in front of the defence - the first time such a system had been employed since the days of John Gregory.
Aston Villa midfielder Mark Kinsella was looking to score against his former team-mates and his best chance came after Gareth Barry had laid a pass from Steve Staunton into his path. But he screwed a shot across the goal.
ASTON VILLA: Enckelman, Mellberg, Alpay, Staunton, De la Cruz, Kinsella, Johnsen, Samuel, Barry, Allback (Moore 75), Angel (Crouch 89). Subs not used: Hitzlsperger, Postma, Hendrie. Goals: De la Cruz 70, Moore 83.
CHARLTON: Kiely, Young, Rufus, Fortune, Powell, Kishishev (Brown 69), Jensen, Bart-Williams (Bartlett 75), Robinson, Euell, Svensson (Johansson 85). Subs not used: Fish, Rachubka. Booked: Robinson.
Referee: G Poll (Hertfordshire).
