Goals:
1-0: Collins (24mins, glanced Ashley Young's free-kick into the corner after the winger had been fouled by Barton)
Bookings: Williamson (23mins, foul), Petrov (79, foul), Barton (90, dissent), Cuellar (90, foul)
Referee: Stuart Attwell (Nuneaton) – Fell for Young's dramatic fall as Villa took the lead, but displayed leniency towards Steven Taylor when he clashed with Bent 3
Attendance: 37,090
Entertainment: **
ASTON VILLA (4-2-3-1): Friedel 7; Walker 5 (Cuellar 78mins), Dunne 7 , COLLINS 8, L Young 6; Makoun 4 (Reo-Coker 67mins 4), Petrov 5; Downing 6, Agbonlahor 6 (Pires 86mins), A Young 7; Bent 5.
Subs (not used): Marshall (gk), Clark, Albrighton, Heskey.
NEWCASTLE (4-1-3-2):
HARPER: Made two fine second-half saves from Agbonlahor and Young to keep Newcastle in the game 7
Simpson: Kept tabs on Agbonlahor and Young reasonably well, but couldn't get forward as he would have liked 6
Williamson: Gave as good as he got against Bent and refused to be pulled out of position by Villa's attackers 7
S Taylor: As whole-hearted as ever, but might have conceded a penalty when he barged Bent over in the second half 5
Enrique: Started brightly, but tailed off as the game wore on and didn't really deliver a telling cross 5
Coloccini: Acquitted himself well enough in central midfield, but was hardly ideally suited to the role 5
Barton: Was unlucky to be penalised in the build-up to the goal, but didn't help himself by niggling at the referee 5
Guthrie: Worked away diligently at the heart of midfield, but never looked like providing a telling through ball 5
Gutierrez: Another infuriating display in which some decent approach play was wasted by wayward crossing 4
Lovenkrands: Rarely troubled the Villa defence, but would have claimed a dramatic late equaliser had it not been for Friedel 5
Ranger: Has been banging Pardew's door down to get a game, but did little to justify his high opinion of himself 4
Subs:
R Taylor (for S Taylor, 63mins): Gave the midfield a more balanced look, but failed to find the target with a late free-kick 5
Kuqi (for Ranger, 83mins)
(not used): Krul (gk), Ferguson, Tavernier, Richardson, Donaldson.
Man Of The Match: JAMES Collins – Scored the only goal of the game and successfully neutralised Ranger's attacking threat.
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