English FA Premiership/ Birmingham City 0 Aston Villa 1: "Tommy, Tommy, give us a goal," taunted the home supporters though the gifts Thomas Sorensen presented Birmingham last season were kept under wraps yesterday as David O'Leary's side recorded a first top-flight victory over their West Midlands rivals in 22 years.

The Aston Villa goalkeeper had been cruelly mocked by Birmingham fans after his calamitous mistakes at Villa Park and St Andrew's, though the Dane was able to celebrate here after Villa registered only their second victory in 14 Premiership matches. It arrived courtesy of Kevin Phillips's first-half goal, a breakthrough Villa protected through a combination of obdurate defending and Birmingham's glaring lack of potency in attack.

Julian Gray will be wondering how he slashed a gilt-edged opportunity wide of the far post early on, though that was a rare opening for Steve Bruce's side, who needed the arrival of David Dunn as a second-half substitute to give their play invention.

Villa were not fluent, though in the Northern Irishman Steven Davis they possessed the outstanding player on the field. His energy not only carved chances for Villa, one of which Juan Pablo Angel should have profited from, but also encumbered Birmingham's ability to penetrate. Damien Johnson, Davis's compatriot, was denied on one occasion when the Villa midfielder tracked back to avert danger. " . . . You can see why England struggled to play against Northern Ireland with them in the middle of the park," said Bruce.

The Birmingham manager, however, cut a downbeat figure. This was Birmingham's fourth home defeat in five matches, and a place in the bottom three awaits if Fulham achieve a scoring draw or better at Charlton tonight.

* Guardian Service