Aston Villa 2 Portsmouth 1
Aston Villa secured a place in the top six of the Premiership for the first time this season after a late and fortuitous winner against Portsmouth at Villa Park tonight.
Darius Vassell knew little about the winner which deflected off him under pressure from Boris Zivkovic after Villa captain Olof Mellberg's initial effort had been blocked.
Juan Pablo Angel kept his good form going with the opening goal but Yakubu Ayegbini gave Pompey hope with an equaliser.
Villa tried to build up some momentum again and a cross from Barry was only inches too high for Angel to connect with.
McCann had a low drive deflected for a corner while at the other end Taylor flashed a low drive across the face of goal.
But with seven minutes left the ball was deflected home off Vassell under pressure from Zivkovic from close range for the winner after Mellberg's initial effort had been blocked.
