Teenager Lee Hendrie was sent off on his first appearance to complete a miserable afternoon for Aston Villa.

The 18 year old substitute was dismissed in the eighth minute of injury time.

It needed a defiant display by Rangers’ giant American goalkeeper Jurgen Sommer to prevent Villa grabbing at least a point in a march they had dominated in long spells.

The 6ft 5ins keeper brilliantly kept out a hat-trick of scoring attempts by Villa’s Serbian striker Savo Milosevic - once memorably, mid way through the second half from a point blank header.

Sommer repeated his heroics in a frantic finish, somehow seeing out a close range header from Tommy Johnson and then tipping over a blockbuster by full back Alan Wright.

Villa badly missed the cutting edge usually provided by top scorer Dwight Yorke who missed the match with a broken nose, but still outplayed their London hosts for long spells only to end up in disarray, sending on reserve goalkeeper Nigel Spink as their third outfield substitute after Ian Taylor had been carried off on a stretcher in the prolonged injury time.

It did not end there as Hendrie, who had replaced the injured Mark Draper before half time was booked early in the second period was shown the red card right at the death when he blatantly blocked Rangers full back Rufus Brevett.