Benteke's devil brightness before Delph flaw habitat the conqueror in thriller Southampton 2 Aston Villa 3

Benteke's devil brightness before Delph flaw habitat the conqueror in thriller Southampton 2 Aston Villa 3

Paul Lambert gambled by dropping star striker Christian Benteke to the bench - but he was rewarded with both his forwards scoring in Aston Villa's win over Southampton.
Gabriel Agbonlahor opened the scoring with a terrific solo goal and, after Southampton pulled one back through Jay Rodriguez, he combined with Benteke's replacement Libor Kozak to head in a second.
But Southampton bounced back through Dani Osvaldo - only to see Fabian Delph win it for Villa with a screamer 10 minutes from time.

Cracker: Aston Villa celebrate Fabian Delph's winner is a see-sawing epic at St Mary's

Laced it: Delph smashed home the winner to put Villa in front for the third time in the match

Watch and enjoy: Delph looks on in his follow-through as his left-footed bullet snags three points

MATCH FACTS

Southampton (4-2-3-1): Gazzaniga 5; Clyne 7 (Fonte 59 5), Yoshida 4, Lovren 6, Shaw 7; Wanyama 4 (Cork 46 5), S Davis 5; Ward-Prowse 5 (Osvaldo 38 5), Lallana 6,
Rodriguez 7; Lambert 6.
Subs not used: Cropper, Chambers,
Hooiveld, Gallagher.
Goals: Rodriguez 48, Osvaldo 69
Booked: Lambert, Fonte, Osvaldo
Manager: Mauricio Pochettino 6

Aston Villa (4-4-2): Guzan 7; Bacuna 5, Vlaar 5 (Lowton 46 5), Clark 5, Baker 6; Luna 5, El Ahmadi 6, Westwood 5, Delph 6; Agbonlahor 7, Kozak 5.
Subs not used: Steer, Albrighton,
Sylla, Tonev, Benteke, Weimann.
Goals: Agbonlahor 15, Kozak 64, Delph 80
Booked: Kozak, Weimann
Manager: Paul Lambert 6
Referee: Jonathan Moss 7 
Man of the match: Jay Rodriguez
*Player ratings by SAM CUNNINGHAM
at St Mary's

It condemned the hosts to their third defeat in
a row following losses against Arsenal and Chelsea - the first time that has happened since manager Mauricio Pochettino took over last year.
After defeats by Arsenal and Chelsea, a loss at home to Villa would've indicated their promising start to the season was fading and the match was heading that way until substitute Dani Osvaldo headed in an equaliser in the 69th minute. It was the least they deserved after dominating for large spells and only being caught out twice for both Villa's goals.
Southampton completely pinned their opponents back in the opening 15 minutes but were caught on viscous break by Villa. Delph broke up play deep in his own half and quickly played the ball out to Agbonlahor. What he did next was all his own work.
The rapid striker let the ball run and completely outwitted Southampton centre back Maya Yoshida as he spun on the halfway line to race clear on the left. Dejan Lovren desperately tried to get across to cover for his defensive partner but Agbonlahor used the defender's momentum against him and feinted inside on the edge of the box as the Southampton player dived in, before clipping the ball beyond Paulo Gazzaniga.
It was not the best of starts for the stand-in Argentinian goalkeeper, replacing Artur Boruc who is out for six weeks with a fractured hand, but there was little he could do.
Paul Lambert gambled when he dropped Benteke to the bench - a player so pivotal to keeping them up last season - but the striker paid the price for his recent barren run and was replaced by £7million summer signing Kozak.

 

Slick: Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor slipped past Dejan Lovren before slotting home for his side's first

Cool head: Striker Agbolahor, with Cristian Benteke on the bench, showed his composure in front of goal

Benteke had not scored for seven matches in a row - his longest run without a goal since he joined Villa in August 2012. He scored five in his first six matches of the season but has since struggled, and Lambert had finally had enough after starting him for the past five games without a return.
Southampton had started putting pressure on Villa's defence from the whistle. After only four minutes Adam Lallana, full of confidence following his call-up to the England team and performing well in his first international matches against Chile and Germany, cleverly turned on the edge of the box and looked odds on to score from seven yards out only to have his effort blocked.

Rise above: Southampton hit back early in the second half through a Jay Rodriguez to level at 1-1

Power play: Libor Kozak's header blasted straight through the arms of Saints keeper Paulo Gazzaniga

Strike force: Kozak celebrates his goal as it put Villa ahead for the second time

A minute later left back Luke Shaw clipped the crossbar with a cross from the left and then Jay Rodriguez, who also made his senior England debut alongside Lallana against Chile, tested Brad Guzan with a powerful strike from 25 yards which the Villa keeper could only parry.
Even after Agbonlahor's strike, completely against the run of play, put Southampton behind they continued to push forward. Rodriguez tested Guzan again, this time leaping to head Nathaniel Clyne's cross towards the left of goal but the American stopper was equal to it a second time, throwing himself full stretch to push the ball just wide of the post.
The home side were relentless and just after the half-hour mark came close to scoring twice in two minutes, through Shaw's long-range half-volley and Ward-Prowse's miscued effort which flew over.

Still in it: Dani Osvaldo snatches the ball quickly after slotting Saints' second

Up and over: Villa's Fabian Delph uses his whole body to hold off Saints' Victor Wanyama

The home side's pressure finally paid off early in the second half with Rodriguez's equaliser, heading in Clyne's cross from the right with a bullet from all of eight yards out three minutes after the break. It was more than deserved.
Benteke was watching from the dugout with his hood up. What he saw was another goal against the run of play - and his replacement scoring it. Agbonlahor robbed substitute Jack Cork of the ball and swung in a cross which Kozak headed in unmarked.
The game twisted again as Southampton struck back, this time within four minutes. Rickie Lambert headed Jose Fonte's cross from the right back across goal and Osvaldo nipped in to nod in from close range.
But Villa finally cracked their opponents with 10 minutes to play. Benteke had joined the fray in the 65th minute, but it was Delph who struck a rocket from 25 yards into the top left corner to win it.

Winner and grinner: The look on Delph's face said it all as Paul Lambert's side won at Southampton

Fired up: Dani Osvaldo gets pulled away from a confrontation with Villa's Ciaran Clark by Mauricio Pochettino

Separated: The melee came after the whistle as Southampton lost their first home game of the season

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