Matchfacts: Newcastle Utd vs Aston Villa

Goals: 1-0: Collins (24mins, glanced Ashley Young's free-kick into the corner after the winger had been fouled by Barton) Bookings: Williamson (23mins, foul), Petrov (79, foul), Barton (90, dissent), Cuellar (90, foul) Referee: Stuart Attwell (Nuneaton) Fell for Young's dramatic fall as Villa took the lead, but displayed leniency towards Steven Taylor when he clashed with Bent 3 Attendance: 37,090 Entertainment: ** ASTON VILLA (4-2-3-1): Friedel 7; Walker 5 (Cuellar 78mins), Dunne 7 , COLLINS 8, L Young 6; Makoun 4 (Reo-Coker 67mins 4), Petrov 5; Downing 6, Agbonlahor 6 (Pires 86mins), A Young 7; Bent 5. Subs (not used): Marshall (gk), Clark, Albrighton, Heskey. NEWCASTLE (4-1-3-2): HARPER: Made two fine second-half saves from Agbonlahor and Young to keep Newcastle in the game 7 Simpson: Kept tabs on Agbonlahor and Young reasonably well, but couldn't get forward as he would have liked 6 Williamson: Gave as good as he got against Bent and refused to be pulled out of position by Villa's attackers 7 S Taylor: As whole-hearted as ever, but might have conceded a penalty when he barged Bent over in the second half 5 Enrique: Started brightly, but tailed off as the game wore on and didn't really deliver a telling cross 5 Coloccini: Acquitted himself well enough in central midfield, but was hardly ideally suited to the role 5 Barton: Was unlucky to be penalised in the build-up to the goal, but didn't help himself by niggling at the referee 5 Guthrie: Worked away diligently at the heart of midfield, but never looked like providing a telling through ball 5 Gutierrez: Another infuriating display in which some decent approach play was wasted by wayward crossing 4 Lovenkrands: Rarely troubled the Villa defence, but would have claimed a dramatic late equaliser had it not been for Friedel 5 Ranger: Has been banging Pardew's door down to get a game, but did little to justify his high opinion of himself 4 Subs: R Taylor (for S Taylor, 63mins): Gave the midfield a more balanced look, but failed to find the target with a late free-kick 5 Kuqi (for Ranger, 83mins) (not used): Krul (gk), Ferguson, Tavernier, Richardson, Donaldson. Man Of The Match: JAMES Collins Scored the only goal of the game and successfully neutralised Ranger's attacking threat.

Source: Northern_Echo