By Aston Villa FC

Aston Villa secured a 2-0 victory at Southampton to get back to winning ways in the Under-18 Premier League South.

Two goals in three second-half minutes courtesy of Taylor-Jay Hart and debutant Travis Patterson did the damage and sealed all three points.

It was a first win in six for Villa and sees them climb back up to fourth place in the table, six points off the summit with two games in hand.

The Young Lions are next in action on Wednesday as they continue their FA Youth Cup campaign against Brighton & Hove Albion at Villa Park (ko 7pm), with the fourth-round tie available to watch live on VillaTV.

The first half saw both sides go close to breaking the deadlock at Southampton’s Staplewood Campus.

Sam Bellis headed against the crossbar for Saints while Villa goalkeeper Oliwer Zych saved well from Riley Wright and the lively Belis.

Meanwhile, at the other end, Dewain Sewell and Chisom Afoka both fired off target for the visitors as it remained goalless at the interval.

But Villa opened the scoring in the 54th minute when Hart capped off a flowing move with an angled strike from 20 yards which dipped and found the net via the far post.

And it was 2-0 just moments later as another well-worked move resulted in Tommi O’Reilly sending a throughball for Sewell to cross low for youngster Patterson, promoted from the Under-15s, to slot home from eight yards within just seconds of his introduction off the bench.

And there was still opportunity for Todd Alcock and Kobei Moore, both promoted from the Under-16s, to also make their bows on a victorious afternoon for Villa, which saw Zych deny both Luke Pearce and Ramello Mitchell to preserve the advantage.

Villa: Zych, McBride, Swinkels, Appiah (Alcock 75), A O'Reilly, Hart, Reddin, Barnes (Patterson 55), Sewell, T O'Reilly, Afoka (Moore 82).

Subs: 

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