Aston Villa left it late once again to notch a vital goal and this time it was the winner in a dull dull dull encounter with Hull, only livened by some pantomime stuff from ref Steve Bennett…

It was a Zayatte own goal that tipped the balance, the Hull centre-back sliding in to deny Agbonlahor a clear-cut chance after Ashley Young had outfoxed Ricketts. To be honest, Villa scarcely deserved the three points. While Hull, understandably perhaps, battened down the hatches after conceding 9 goals in their last 2 games, Villa were bitterly disappointing on the night and struggled to generate any efforts on goal. I predicted a thriller with goals – I couldn’t have been wider of the mark.

There was at least some interesting team news. Villa kept an unchanged lineup once again but Phil Brown swept through his side, ringing the changes after the drubbing at City. Surprisingly it was names like King and Geovanni who suffered, dropping to the bench at the frustration of their fantasy owners. Boateng and Windass also dropped out, with Halmosi, Ricketts, Cousin and Garcia coming into the eleven.

Personally, I wouldn’t panic about King and Geovanni’s starting roles – both should earn recalls for the trip to Everton with Hull showing little creativity in this game. Whether they are worth keeping, given Hull’s current run of form is another matter. They have now lost their last 3 games, scoring just 2 goals in the process and conceding 10. The trip to Goodison will be another major test for them and after that they host Arsenal.

Brown obviously wanted them to keep things tight and go for a clean sheet in this one and it worked for the majority of the game. But Hull created very little – Mendy was perhaps their only threat coming forward and he barely saw the ball. They were disappointing in their lack of ambition – which is unlike them but Villa were jaded and also struggled.

In the end it was a moment of class from Ashley Young that decided it, beating his man and whipping in a killer ball to register his seventh assist – his first points in 3 matches. At the back, Villa held firm under little pressure, to register a second clean sheet in 5. It’s a local derby with West Brom next for Villa, as their go on a run of games looks profitable for owners of their players. They’ll need to improve on tonight’s showing but they surely will.