U18s: Aston Villa 2-0 Brighton and Hove Albion

Aston Villa made it back-to-back wins in the Under-18 Premier League with a home victory against Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday.

After a low-key first half, Charlie Pavey headed the hosts in front after 58 minutes.

A crunching tackle from Josh Knight saw Brighton go down to ten men five minutes later.

And despite having chances to add more goals, it was Travis Patterson who produced a fine finish to wrap up the points in stoppage time.

After trading half-chances in a cagey first half, Thierry Katsukunya came agonisingly close to opening the scoring when his placed effort rolled inches wide of the far post.

Villa cranked up the intensity after the break and Brighton were indebted to goalkeeper Tommy Reid for keeping out Luke Softley’s point-blank header.

The home side kept pushing and were rewarded with a goal after 58 minutes.

Jayden Barber worked space on the right-hand side before delivering a cross to the back post, where Pavey was waiting to head back across goal and past the ‘keeper.

Five minutes later, the away side were reduced to ten men after Knight was shown a straight red for a dangerous lunge on Jack McDowell.

Substitute Patterson attempted to press home his team’s numerical advantage with a second goal, but he was thwarted by Reid when he unleashed a shot from the edge of the box.

The winger made no mistake when the opportunity arose to shoot again in stoppage time, firing a low strike beyond Reid from just outside the penalty area.