U23s: Aston Villa 2-0 Norwich City

Taylor-Jay Hart and Brad Young struck the decisive blows as Aston Villa beat Norwich City in Premier League 2 on Monday night.

Under the lights at Villa Park, Hart showed a touch of class to slot home the opener after 48 minutes.

The Villans, who were thankful to goalkeeper Viljami Sinisalo for several fine saves, sealed the win in stoppage time when Young scored from close-range.

Tim Iroegbunam was shown a second yellow card in the final seconds, but his side held on to secure their clean sheet.

The teams were separated by five places and seven points at kick-off, with the Canaries flying high in second place, and the visitors gave Villa an early scare in B6.

Jon Rowe tormented a couple of defenders with a jinking run that earned him a yard of space in the box, and the winger was only denied by a superb one-handed save from Sinisalo.

Carney Chukwuemeka has been featuring in the Premier League this season and the 18-year-old’s qualities were on display after 13 minutes when he embarked on a solo run that ended with him drilling narrowly over the bar.

A huge chance fell Norwich’s way soon after when Abu Khamara sprung the offside trap and shot straight at Sinisalo, with Christos Tziolis picking up the rebound and somehow missing the target from five yards out.

Interchanges between Chukwuemeka and Tommi O’Reilly offered Villa hope of breaking down the away side, and when they combined skilfully just before the break, the latter got to the byline and pulled a ball across the face of goal that was begging for a teammate to tap home.

Ben Chrisene was replaced by Paul Appiah at half-time and the substitute was immediately into the action, bursting down the right-hand side and playing the ball into Hart, who took a touch before picking out the far corner with his finish.

Jayden Barber troubled the ‘keeper as the hosts continued to push forward, but their eagerness to attack was almost exploited by Khamara.

The Norwich No9 timed his run to perfection to collect Rowe’s through ball, chipping the ball over Sinisalo and watching on as it struck the post and rolled to safety.

Villa’s goalkeeper was being kept busy as the Canaries offered regular reminders of their quality, thwarting Flynn Clarke, Tony Springett and Tziolis.

But the game was put to bed in the five minutes of stoppage time when Young swept the ball past Dylan Berry.