BRIAN LITTLE'S Villa plunged Southampton back into relegation trouble and kept alive their hopes of a top three finish at Villa Park.

Makeshift central defender lan Taylor, fullback Gary Charles with his first goal of the campaign and leading scorer Dwight Yorke struck in a 20 minute spell.

Bruce Grobbelaar had been kept busy for the first 62 minutes of the game, before being beaten when a curling right-wing corner from Andy Townsend eluded him in the 62nd minute and was met firmly by the head of Taylor.

Then, 10 minutes from time, Yorke's trickery took him past Francis Benali and his cut back was turned in by Charles.

Yorke raced clear in the 82nd minute to complete the scoring with his 25th goal of the season after being freed by Taylor and in a hectic finale Townsend, Tommy Johnson and Milosevic all hit the woodwork.

Milosevic could consider himself fortunate to have escaped punishment when he appeared to punch the head of Saints defender Tommy Widdrington in an off-the-ball incident.