Villa in need of some Caledonian inspiration

ASTON Villa demonstrated just why they need an injection of Paul Gascoigne to rescue their season as they slumped to their sixth Premiership defeat of the season against Wimbledon at Villa Park.

It was another below-par performance after Wednesday's 3-0 trouncing at West Ham in the Coca Cola Cup and the final whistle was greeted with a chorus of boos from the frustrated Villa faithful.

Villa enjoyed a large slice of the possession but, for all the graft of Ian Taylor and Simon Grayson and the promptings of Sasa Curcic, they struggled to create any worthwhile openings.

Milosevic looked lively upfront as Villa reverted to a two man attack in the absence of suspended Stan Collymore, but his striker partner Dwight Yorke had a quiet game before finally making an impact in the closing stages.

Wimbledon, for whom Ceri Hughes was an impressive figure in midfield, only ventured forward on a handful of occasions but they always looked threatening.

The first half was a mediocre affair with Villa enjoying most of the play territorially but with clearcut chances at a premium.

Indeed, the entertainment served up was poor until the game to life with two goals in six minutes before the interval.

Wimbledon went ahead in the 39th minute when a leftwing centre from Hughes was headed down by Ekoku to leave Robbie Earle with the simplest of chances.

But Villa retaliated and they got back on level terms in first half injury time with midfielder Taylor's third goal of the campaign.

A splendid defence-splitting pass from Milosevic picked out Taylor who had time to steady himself before driving in a fierce shot which Neil Sullivan got a hand to but could not keep out of the corner of the net.

Wimbledon regained the lead in the 62nd minute when Hughes whipped in a low cross after being found in space by Vinnie Jones and Carl Cort was first to react as he drilled a shot into the roof of the net from close range.

Villa came close to a quickfire reply for the second time when Yorke's rocket shot from the edge of the area was turned upwards by Sullivan onto the crossbar but it was a last last gasp for Villa.