U21s: Aston Villa 1-2 Southampton

Aston Villa lost out to Southampton in Premier League 2 on Friday night - despite a late rally at Bodymoor Heath.

The Saints took a lead into half-time when Jay Robinson sent a scuffed effort into the net off the inside of the post after 44 minutes.

Robinson doubled his tally with another close-range finish on 52 minutes before the away side spurned several great chances.

A slaloming Chisom Afoka won a penalty in the final ten minutes, which Seb Revan converted to tee up a frantic finale.

But despite piling on the pressure, the hosts walked away empty-handed.

A run of four wins in their past five PL2 games had catapulted the Young Lions into promotion contention and they began the night in fourth place.

Tony Carss’ team scored five against Alvechurch in the Birmingham Senior Cup earlier in the week and they came within inches of taking an early lead when Sil Swinkels headed just wide of the far post from Revan’s cross.

Two lengthy injury stoppages disrupted the hosts, with Kaine Kesler and Swinkels forced off, before Southampton fired their first effort on target through Kami Doyle.

A hole in the net caused another delay to the first half, with visitors coming on strong once the game was restarted.

Marauding full-back Lewis Payne raced in behind the Villa defence and saw a shot parried into the air by Oliwier Zych, with Robinson reacting quickest to scuff a shot in off the post.

Ten minutes of first half stoppage time saw Aaron O’Reilly fire over from close-range before Todd Alcock bent a shot over the bar.

Saints, who began the night in third place in PL2, showed their attacking intent at the start of the second half when Doyle pounced on a defensive mistake and tested Zych before Tyler Dibling’s rebound was cleared by Josh Feeney.

Another loose pass from a claret and blue shirt contributed to Southampton’s second goal after 51 minutes when Robinson buried a rebound after his initial shot had been saved.

Zych was doing his best to keep his side in the game, making another fine stop from Sam Amo-Ameyaw’s angled drive, but Villa were struggling to break their opponent down at the other end.

Some neat passing from the hosts created a half-chance for Charlie Lutz after 67 minutes but the striker blasted his shot well over the bar.

Southampton spurned further chances before they were made to sweat when Afoka jinked between two defenders and was upended in the box.

Captain Revan stepped up and dispatched the spot kick, despite the ‘keeper getting a hand to his effort, to set-up an exciting finale with seven minutes left.

Afoka curled an effort over but Villa were unable to carve out a major opportunity as they slipped to defeat.