Blues 0 Villa 1 - The Swain Game

A repeat performance from the only Brummie to start yesterday's Second City derby made it five wins in succession for the claret and blue half of this skirmish and three on the bounce for Villa boss Martin O'Neill.

Two years ago, Agbonlahor stole in to clinch O'Neill's first victory in this fixture at the same end where yesterday the young striker headed the 84th minute winner from a John Carew knockdown following an Ashley Young free-kick.

While the only goal of a fiercely-committed if low-quality clash brought a strong sense of deja-vu to the afternoon, Blues fans will argue it was their own manager's first taste of this fixture – that crushing and humiliating 5-1 pasting in the run-up to the club's 2008 relegation – which held a greater influence over this game.

It was not clear until yesterday's re-run just how much that painful and embarrassing experience scarred McLeish. But the Blues boss played out this entire contest with a lone striker supported by a five-man midfield in a clear statement of intent.

Whatever else happened, there was to be no repeat, no avalanche of goals from Villa's rapier counter-attacks.

McLeish wanted his team to get their derby pride back and, to a degree, he succeeded – but it was like watching a boxer going 15 rounds with his guard up hoping he might land a lucky punch.

Instead, it was Villa who again delivered the vital KO.

Blues squeezed the life out of midfield and, despite fielding an injury-effected back-line, restricted their neighbours to slim rations in front of goal. There was pride, great effort and tenacity in their football.

But the flip side of this stifling of Villa was a failure to carry a lack of penetration and goal threat to Brad Friedel, on a day when the goalkeeper had only just got on first name terms with an entirely re-constructed back four which provided debuts for Richard Dunne, James Collins and Stephen Warnock.

If it was a gamble to throw all three into this volatile fixture after such minimal preparation time because of the international break, it paid off for O'Neill.

The match facts state that Blues mustered seven attempts on target, but it is difficult to recall Friedel having to do anything out of the ordinary to resist them.

All of this left the crestfallen St Andrew's faithful streaming away chewing not just on the disappointment of another derby defeat, but the nagging suspicion that the team had been chained by its manager's caution.

Instead, they had seen O'Neill make the decisive move on to the front foot after 70 minutes of fairly tedious stalemate when he sacrificed one of his midfield enforcers, Nigel Reo-Coker, to enable Carew to join Agbonlahor up front.

Blues fans were screaming for McLeish to mirror this gambit by bringing on their new great hope, Christian Benitez. But when the Scot responded 10 minutes later, it was to replace lone striker Gary O'Connor and not join him.

By then, there was just a hint that Villa were closing the game carrying the greater menace with Joe Hart making the most difficult save of the afternoon to keep out a Steve Sidwell back-post header after Ashley Young and James Milner had combined intelligently to create the opening.

The goal that sent 2,800 Villa fans crazy with delight arrived when Young, scampering away down the right, knocked the ball ahead of Stuart Parnaby who was unable to then get out of the Villa player's path.

A free-kick? Probably. A yellow card, which Parnaby was shown by refereee Howard Webb? A little harsh. But what followed was even more cruel for the home contingent.

Young changed his usual instep technique to strike a peach of a free-kick straight into the heart of Blues defence, a delivery which sought out its target Carew with digital precision. His header back towards the penalty spot further wrong-footed Hart's defenders leaving Agbonlahor free to beat the Blues keeper with a second, angled header.

It was a typical finishing flourish to a typical Villa performance. For all the reservations which are held about the team's development in the context of a top-four challenge, there are few more adept at winning on their travels.

McLeish's team poured energy and devotion into this game but it was Villa who gnawed away more convincingly at the stitches of their opponents.

England winger Milner twice got his connections wrong when played into goalscoring positions before the break while Agbonlahor could not direct a near-post header on target from a Carlos Cuellar cross of rare accuracy.

Blues were only able to stretch Friedel once, when he charged down a Lee Bowyer drive after the midfielder had broken through a Villa midfield curtain McLeish feared would overpower his side without an extra man in the department.

For all their splendid and rousing effort, and the sense of a game being driven with greater urgency by the home side, Villa's £16m trio of Dunne, Collins and Warnock could all reflect on highly satisfactory debuts – but they know they will face greater quality than McLeish can so far muster in the months ahead.

As for the Blues boss, he can only hope the forthcoming change of power at St Andrew's alters the dimensions under which he is working.

Full marks to his team's commitment and the noise generated by the home fans, but less than 25,000 'Bluenoses' were persuaded to turn out for his primeval fixture.

A reflection not just of ticket prices which started at £40 but the widespread disenchantment towards those who made such demands of their hard-pressed pockets.