U18s: Aston Villa 0-5 Southampton

Aston Villa were defeated by Southampton in the Under-18 Premier League at Bodymoor Heath on Friday.

The Saints were in control from the outset, grabbing the lead after just three minutes through Dominic Ballard.

Will Armitage tapped home to make it 2-0 on 19 minutes before Ballard netted a penalty either side of half-time.

Substitute Luke Pearce won and scored another spot kick to complete the scoring in the final minutes.

The result leaves Villa 11^th in the table ahead of a home game against West Ham United on 19 February.

Villa made six changes from their last outing, most notably bringing Dewain Sewell and Kadan Young into the starting XI to flank central striker Ruben Shakpoke.

But it was at other end of the pitch where the early action took place, with Saints’ No9 Ballard squeezing the ball in at the far post to give them the lead after less than three minutes.

Southampton were attempting to play out from that back at every opportunity, and when Cameron Bragg was intercepted by Shakpoke, the Villa forward sent a powerful drive narrowly wide from the edge of the box.

With 17 minutes on the clock, Luke Softley came to his team’s rescue with a goal-saving tackle that denied Ballard a second after the forward had rounded James Wright.

However just two minutes later, the visitors did double their advantage when Armitage tapped home Tyler Dibling’s ball across the face of goal.

A spell of Saints pressure produced a third goal after 33 minutes, with Ballard netting a penalty after Jem Hewlett had been felled in the box.

Kahrel Reddin was introduced by Sean Verity at half-time and the winger’s presence coincided with Villa going on the attack to start the second half, seeing Travis Patterson shoot wide from close-range.

Despite enjoying more of the game, the home side handed Ballard the chance to complete his hat-trick from the penalty spot when goalkeeper Wright fouled Jimmy-Jay Morgan.

Ballard sent the ‘keeper the wrong way once again with his shot crashing in off the underside of the crossbar to make it 4-0 with 62 minutes played.

Villa continued to toil as the game fell into a quiet spell and drifted towards full-time, but were unable to muster any shots on target.

And in the final moments, Pearce went down in the box and picked himself up to score his side’s third penalty of the day.