​After the drought - well, not quite a flood. But a spray of three goals was sufficient to bring the smiles back and give Aston Villa only their second League victory of the season.

Des Bremner ended a barren spell stretching back through 678 minutes of football when he accidentally scored in the 34th minute of Saturday's game against Southampton.

There was silence and then a massive sigh of relief as the midfield player, signed from Hibernian last month, took the salute.

Competent

Mortimer added a second direct from a 43rd minute free kick awarded for a foul by Hebberd on Little and Evans ended Southampton's passing interest when he converted a penalty 11 minutes from time after Swain had been brought down by Holmes.

On the face of it, a competent performance against a team who arrived at Villa Park standing fourth in the table and with only one defeat behind them. But still there was something missing.

Any deficiencies there might have been, though were not evident in midfield where the Saint's much vaunted partnership of Ball and Williams scarcely got a look in. Williams was frequently outplayed by Cowans while Mortimer and Bremner were usually equal to anything Ball could come up with.

Bremner's goal had more than a trace of luck about it a hopeful lob back into the middle that was hit too hard and flew over Gennoe but his overall contribution to the game was solid.

Constructive when he needed to be and destructive when he had to he Bremner did none of the "hiding" beloved of so many midfield players and kept himself involved as much as possible.

Mortimer continues to lead by example, covering an immense amount of ground, inspiring, cajoling, and when necessary threatening but managing to bring the best out of the men around him.

There were few problems in defence, either, although young Gibson, deputising at full-back for the injured Gidman, took a while to settle and Evans and Ormsby sometimes got themselves in a tangle.

Promise

The real misnomer comes up front where the strikers are not striking. Geddis and Little offered occasional glimpses of promise without fulfilling the pledge and on this showing neither of them looked capable of regularly breaching many First Division defences.

It was still a good result for manager Ron Saunders the players and supporters. Perhaps not quite such a good one for director Doug Ellis.