Swindon Town 0 Aston Villa 2 - Report

A goal in each half made Jordan Amavi's Aston Villa debut a winning one as they won on their return to English soil at Swindon Town.

Amavi, a near £9million signing from Nice in France, only linked up with his new team-mates on Monday but started and played 77 minutes.

Strikes from Scott Sinclair and substitute Jerell Sellars settled matters with Villa looking sharp on and off the ball, after an intense 10-day training camp in Portugal.

Off the field, Villa will now be looking to add to their squad, after losing captain Fabian Delph to Manchester City with striker Christian Benteke Liverpool-bound.

They didn't feel the effects at the League One Robins, who went behind when Gabby Agbonlahor teed up Sinclair for a simple close-range finish.

[breakout title="Swindon 0 Aston Villa 2" align="right"]

Aston Villa: Steer, Hutton (Mason 75) Richards (Donacien 77), Clark (Toner 75), Amavi (Kinsella 77), Bacuna (McKirdy 75), Gardner (Calder 66), Westwood (Lyden 81), Sinclair (Abdo 81), Gil (Sellars 54), Agbonlahor (Robinson 63).[/breakout]

Swindon threatened in the first-half was from two free-kicks. Nathan Byrne's effort was tipped over by goalkeeper Jed Steer, while a drive from Fabian Robert drifted high and wide of the target.

And it was the home side who enjoyed the better start to the second-half, Robert miscuing a volley while Nathan Thompson side-footed wide after meeting Jonathan Obika's lay-off.

Summer signing Micah Richards captained Villa for the first time and almost marked the occasion with his first goal.

He out-jumped goalkeeper Tyrell Belford, only to see his header come back off the foot of the post.

Sherwood thrust 10 of his young players into the spotlight during the second half and, one in particular, seized the opportunity.

Sellars, 19, replaced Carles Gil just before the hour mark and netted in the dying minutes, when he charged down the goalkeeper's clearance to score Villa's second.

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