Norwich 1 Aston Villa 2 - match report

The forward had opened the scoring with a second half thunderbolt before Grant Holt's penalty hauled the hosts level.

It kept Villa five points above the bottom three – on 40 points – after Wigan's 3-2 win at Albion ahead of their game in hand with Swansea on Tuesday.

Villa were unchanged from the 6-1 mauling of Sunderland and Norwich dictated the early play but with little penetration as Villa comfortably contained the Canaries.

Agbonlahor's drive deflected wide in Villa's first threat after 10 minutes before Matt Lowton survived handball shouts after Anthony Pilkington's cross hit him in the area.

Mark Bunn claimed Andi Weimann's low effort as Villa looked the more threatening going forward, despite Norwich's bluster.

With Holt isolated the hosts relied on set-pieces and Brad Guzan easily gathered Ryan Bennett's downward header from Snodgrass' free-kick on 22 minutes.

And Villa were hit five minutes later when Matt Lowton – who had played every minute of every league game – limped out and was replaced by Eric Lichaj.

Guzan stopped Robert Snodgrass' shot after the midfielder's free kick had been returned to him after it hit the wall before Bunn claimed Weimman's angled strike.

Holt headed over from Javier Garrido's left-wing cross five minutes before half time and Villa almost grabbed the lead in stoppage time.

Agbonlahor was granted space on the right and his cross deflected off Garrido and looped onto the top of the bar.

Christian Benteke bundled his way through just seconds after the re-start but failed to get enough on his shot to trouble Bunn before he then shot wide.

Holt blazed over soon after but Norwich lacked punch and Villa made them pay on 55 minutes.

Agbonlahor pounced on a loose ball and with no pressure advanced to slam a low 25-yard rocket into the bottom corner.

Villa, slick and composed, were in charge and almost doubled their lead on 61 minutes after a lightening counter when Agbonlahor's cross was turned over by Weimann from just four yards.

Fabian Delph curled over and Agbonlahor – who was running City ragged – skidded wide after a brilliant interchange with Benteke.

Benteke was then lucky to avoid a red when he grabbed Sebastien Bassong before Norwich equalised in the 74^th minute.

Joe Bennett had struggled to contain Snodgrass all game and when the winger jinked past him in the area the left-back hauled him down and escaped a red card having already been booked.

Holt slammed in the penalty to level to breathe life into the Canaries.

But Villa won it in the final minute when Agbonlahor latched onto Ashley Westwood's pass, raced past Bassong and squeezed a low shot past Bunn.