*Joachim keeps Villa up with the pack*

Two sharply taken goals by Julian Joachim broke Everton’s obdurate resistance at Villa Park last night after the dismissal of Alec Cleland had left them to play for 80 minutes with 10 men. Everton’s cautious approach had never promised them anything more than a draw and eventually they were reduced to damage limitation.

Juninho remains Aston Villa’s £11 million target at Atletico Madrid as they seek to strengthen their championship challenge with extra attacking flair.

Last night, against Everton’s finely meshed defence, John Gregory continued to keep faith with the combination of Dion Dublin and Joachim but left Stan Collymore and Paul Merson on the bench.

In theory victory by five goals or more would restore Villa to top place but in practice they were looking for the three points which would leave them behind Chelsea only on goal difference. Initially, however, their problem lay in finding room to breathe.

With each side employing a five-man midfield, space was always going to be tight in the central areas and from Villa’s point of view much depended on how consistently Steve Watson and Alan Wright could turn Everton on the flanks. That and the number of times Joachim was able to take on Dave Watson for pace at the heart of Everton’s defence.

Everton, as is their habit since Duncan Ferguson departed for Newcastle, played Ibrahima Bakayoko as a lone striker and concentrated on soaking up their opponents’ movements in the hope of catching them on the break. After only 10 minutes, however, this somewhat bleak plan was disrupted by the dismissal of Cleland.

The defender’s memory appeared short. Having been cautioned for bringing down Joachim near the Everton penalty area he upended Dublin from behind a minute later. Neale Barry had to send him off.

Everton’s response was to play three at the back and crowd the midfield. Joachim, released in the penalty area by Lee Hendrie, drove a shot wide of the far post but otherwise Villa struggled to find the accuracy and imagination to break through.

Redemption arrived in the 39th minute after Dublin had been bundled over by Olivier Dacourt, sent off by the same referee earlier in the season, near the left-hand touchline. Hendrie directed one of his carefully flighted free-kicks to the far post, Ian Taylor rose above Michael Ball to nod the ball down and Joachim hooked it into the roof of the net.

Villa relaxed, too much perhaps. But for Michael Oakes, Everton would have brought the scores level after 41 minutes.

A quickly taken free-kick surprised the Villa defence and as Bakayoko burst through the middle Gareth Southgate hooked the ball away from him. It was looping towards the net until Oakes, who had been caught off his line, arched back and tipped it over the bar.

Collymore replaced Dublin for the second half, giving Villa’s attack a sharper cutting edge on the ground as an alternative to power in the air. Everton persisted with their policy of cautious containment. Given the limitations of Walter Smith’s squad they had no choice.

What remained of the contest all but disappeared in the 49th minute. Hendrie’s first-time through-pass found Joachim sprinting through the middle of the Everton defence, Dave Watson chugging along in his wake, to thump the ball past Thomas Myrhe.

A sharp header from Collymore, from Steve Watson’s centre, was saved by Myrhe but now Villa were much hungrier for goals and Merson returned from his winter break to slam home the third 13 minutes from time.