Man City 3 - 1 Aston Villa

TWO goals by Darius Vassell against his former club saw City spring into a Champions League place, and the Blues record their fourth home win of the season.

Vassell struck inside the first five minutes when he capitalised on a mistake by Villa fullback Jlloyd Samuel who headed a looping ball over his keeper’s head.

Former Villa man Vassell ran on, collected the ball and stroked it into an empty net.

And things only got better for Vassell as Andy Cole fed him with a delightful floated ball over the Villa defence, that the striker struck on the volley into the bottom corner, his fifth goal of the season.

City dominated the first half with Stephen Ireland and Lee Croft, who started his first game for the Blues, seeing plenty of action. Croft in particular gave the hapless Jlloyd Samuel such a torrid time he was substituted at the break.

Villa came out for the second forty-five minutes with Patrick Berger out on the left and City replaced David Sommeil, who was suffering concussion, with Jihai Sun.

And Villa came out with much more purpose and with Danny Mills moved into the centre City began to look a little unsteady at the back.

So much so that on 65 minutes Berger was able to ping a cross into the box that evaded a diving Kevin Phillips, but was chested over the line from a yard out by Liam Ridgewell.

City then looked a little unsteady and considering that Villa had not had a sniff for most of the game, things looked a little edgy until Andy Cole struck with seven minutes to go.

His speculative shot from the edge of the box spun off a defender’s shin and looped over the Villa keeper to give the fans a last few minutes to enjoy hitting the heady heights of fourth in the league.

Man City:
James: (7, another quiet game)
Mills: (7, did what was asked)
Sommeil: (8, very strong, unfortunate departure)
Distin: (9, captain’s show, again
Jordan: (7, lost concentration a little)
Croft: (8, tricky show but tired)
Barton: (8, non-stop in tight midfield)
Ireland: (8, provides a different angle)
Musampa: (7, frustrating show)
Cole: (8, great brain, deserved goal)
Vassell: (9, two goals, great running)
Subs: Jihai for Sommeil 45mins, (7, short of games)
Sibierski for Croft 69mins, (7, found it tough)
Wright-Phillips for Cole
Subs not used: Richards, De Vlieger

Aston Villa: Taylor, Delaney, Mellberg, Ridgewell, Samuel (Berger 45), Milner, Davis, McCann, Barry, Phillips, Moore (Bakke 71), Berger (Djemba-Djemba 75).
Subs Not Used: Sorensen, De la Cruz.

Att: 42,069. Ref: D Gallagher.