Davies preserves Saints

Southampton 2 Aston Villa

The wiping out of two-goal deficits is becoming a habit with Southampton. They did it in spectacular fashion at Fulham a week ago, and yesterday the clock was showing less than a minute to play when Kevin Davies struck the shot which removed from Aston Villa a victory they had begun to believe would be theirs.

Davies had been ushered into the action with 10 minutes left as Southampton attempted to cash in on their second-half domination, and it was unfortunate that Ronny Johnsen's wild miskick should have provided Davies with the opening to shoot just inside the post. As the Villa manager, Graham Taylor, pointed out, it was Johnsen's only error, though he had been relentlessly booed by the home supporters for what they felt was a foul on James Beattie which merited the award of a penalty.

Referee Graham Barber did not agree, but the Southampton manager, Gordon Strachan, was apoplectic on the touchline, ripping off his jacket and draping it over his face to show his opinion of the official's vision. Mr Barber came over to have a word with Strachan and, according to the manager, the referee said: "If I make a mistake don't make me look like an idiot." If it did seem like a penalty, so did the tackle from behind in the first half on Peter Crouch, so in that respect the mistakes evened themselves out.

Villa enjoy coming to Southampton, having won on six of their previous eight visits, and it seemed likely they would improve a dire away record this season when they scored twice and missed another four before Southampton managed to get back into it. The defending of the Cup semi-finalists was wretched in the opening half. "Horrific, static, didn't compete," was Strachan's summary.

Crouch missed three chances as the lively Darius Vassell tormented Claus Lundekvam, and the England striker was narrowly denied by Antti Niemi before Villa went in front after half an hour. Vassell fired in a shot which was repelled only to Lee Hendrie, who calmly side-footed the goal.

Beattie got on the end of a Fabrice Fernandes free-kick to hit the base of an upright before Villa scored again. Lundekvam made a hash of a back-pass, leaving Vassell to nip through and walk the ball in. But five minutes from the interval Southampton hit back when Johnsen's headed clearance of a left-wing cross flew towards Beattie, who slammed in his 20th League goal of the season.

Villa's worst miss followed this. Another howler, this time by Michael Svensson, let in Vassell, but when Niemi forced him wide he rolled his shot against the post when scoring seemed a formality.

Having been off-target once again in the second half with a header, Crouch was replaced, but it was Southampton who were running things now. Still they could not turn their superiority into goals until, with time almost up, Johnsen kicked an attempted clearance high into the air, and as it fell Davies was on hand to exact punishment.

Southampton 2
Beattie 40, Davies 90

Aston Villa 2
Hendrie 30, Vassell 36

Half-time: 1-2 Attendance: 31,888