Blues celebrate double over nine-man Villa

Aston Villa 0 Birmingham City

A night of shame and humiliation for Aston Villa brought their second defeat this season by Birmingham City, although the damage went beyond lost points and pride. Dion Dublin and Joey Gudjonsson were both sent off during an ugly second half, in which one of several pitch invaders threatened Robbie Savage before being "arrested" by Peter Enckelman.

Sadly for the Villa goalkeeper, it was one of his more successful saves of another derby evening he will be desperate to forget. He was not at fault for the first goal, a diving header at point-blank range by Stan Lazaridis after Jeff Kenna had skipped round Alan Wright before crossing with 16 minutes remaining.

But Enckelman was unquestionably culpable for the second, three minutes later, failing to gather Jlloyd Samuel's back-header and allowing Geoff Horsfield to run on and stroke the ball into an unguarded net. The incident was all too reminiscent of the Finn's howler in last September's 3-0 defeat at Birmingham, when his studs merely grazed Olof Mellberg's throw-in as it bobbled into Villa's goal.

On that occasion, incursions by Birmingham supporters earned their club a £25,000 fine. Villa can surely expect at least the same penalty following fighting among spectators in the Doug Ellis Stand, though the example from the pitch was particularly poor. Depleted following Dublin's assault on Savage in the 51st minute, they played the last 10 minutes with nine men after Gudjonsson's two-footed lunge on Matthew Upson earned him his marching orders.

Birmingham, who last completed a double over their neighbours when ELO and Crossroads flew the flag for the Second City a quarter-century ago, are now probably one win from Premiership safety. Their manager, Steve Bruce, added insult to Villa's injured self-esteem by putting Horsfield in goal for the injured Nico Vaesen in the closing minutes.

"We want Ellis out," chanted the Villa faithful, directing their wrath against the chairman. They might have been better advised to take it out on their indisciplined team. Dublin could not argue with his dismissal. After tackling Savage late and from behind, he butted the Welshman in the face. But argue he did, even using a pitch-side microphone to call Savage, who did not stay down as some players might have done, "a cheat" as he trudged off.

Gudjonsson, an Icelandic midfielder who is on loan from Real Betis, repeatedly showed that his fuse is as short as his stature. His foul on Upson earned a second yellow card five minutes after the second goal, yet the referee Mark Halsey, who performed well in trying circumstances, could well have produced a straight red.

Bruce insisted Savage had not made any racial remarks to Dublin, a former Manchester United colleague. "It was the first thing I asked Robbie when I got in the dressing-room," he said. "We've all lost our head in derby games but I've never seen Dion do anything like that."

The normally media-friendly Graham Taylor refused to discuss the match, let alone his players' irresponsibility. "All my talking from now on has to be done in the dressing-room," the Villa manager said mysteriously before hurrying off.

Birmingham, who have the Premiership's worst disciplinary record, were not exactly blameless for what was an unsavoury advertisement for Midlands football. Christophe Dugarry, evidently angered by Gudjonsson's refusal to shake hands after one first-half fracas, later appeared to spit at him.

Villa failed to put a single shot on target, their best effort coming shortly before half-time when Lee Hendrie's booming volley flashed over the bar. For Birmingham, Dugarry's fine volley forced an equally excellent fingertip save from Enckelman, while Clinton Morrison should have done better than head wide when Damien Johnson's near-post cross reached him four minutes before the break.

Dublin's recklessness did not, at first, seem to affect Villa, who were as steady and unimaginative for much of the second period as they had been during the opening half. Birmingham's numerical advantage gradually told, but their victory may come to be seen as arguably the least of Villa's troubles.

Aston Villa (4-4-2): Enckelman 3; Samuel 5, Mellberg 5, Johnsen 4, Wright 3 (Crouch, 90); S Moore 2 (Hadji 4, h-t), Hendrie 5, Gudjonsson 3, Barry 6; Dublin 3, Vassell 5. Substitutes not used: Hitzlsperger, Postma (gk), Edwards.

Birmingham City (4-4-2): Vaesen 6; Kenna 7, Cunningham 6, Upson 7, Clapham 6; D Johnson 5, Savage 6 (Carter, 82), Clemence 5, Lazaridis 6 (Devlin 6, 75); Morrison 4 (Horsfield 6, 72), Dugarry 5. Substitutes not used: John, Bennett (gk).

Referee: M Halsey (Welwyn Garden City) 7.