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*Ten-man Aston Villa slipped into the relegation zone for the first time since 2002 thanks to Phil Bardsley’s late winner for high-flying Sunderland.*

A woeful first half was characterised by a poor miss from Emile Heskey, who managed to hit the bar from four yards.

Heskey was then sent straight off in the second period after raising his hands in a spat with Jordan Henderson.

Bardsley superbly lashed in low with 10 minutes left before team-mate Boudewijn Zenden received his second yellow card.

Villa boss Gerard Houllier claimed his dangerously inconsistent side were lifted by their late equaliser in a thrilling 3-3 draw at champions Chelsea on Sunday, but there was little evidence of that high against Sunderland as the hosts struggled for cohesion during a poor game.

One excuse may be fatigue, as the recent claims of Black Cats manager Steve Bruce - that players are being “flogged to death” with five games in 13 days over the festive period - looked to carry real weight amid the sloppy technique on display at Villa Park.

But that theory will provide zero consolation to Villa fans, who are watching a team which finished sixth last season plumb new depths.

They have now taken only five league points from last 27 available - and nearly handed Sunderland an early lead as their disgruntled crowd were still settling in their seats.

Alert Steed Malbranque ran round the back of slumbering marker Carlos Cuellar but, though Bardsley’s deep cross cleared the Spaniard, the Black Cats midfielder steered his back-post header wide.

Heskey then drew an early yellow card for Kieran Richardson, who brought down the heavyweight striker as he had raced away towards goal after pouncing on Anton Ferdinand’s misjudgement of the bouncing ball.

As most home teams will, Villa started to press harder.

But the game soon descended into an ugly medley of high balls and heavy touches, with Nigel Reo-Coker wasting some decent counter-attacking work from his team-mates with a loose final ball.

Reo-Coker was then let down by Ashley Young’s inability to bring the ball under control after he had pushed a smart pass through with the England winger lurking on the shoulder of Sunderland’s defenders.

Stiliyan Petrov then made a bizarre decision to cross the ball, almost away from goal, when presented with a shooting chance in the box following Stewart Downing’s intelligent pass.

Despite its paucity, a long delay in the match was unwelcome - young Sunderland midfielder David Meyler, who had not long returned after a cruciate ligament injury, was stretchered off after catching his studs in the turf.

Zenden sprinted on as his replacement, but within seconds made a glaring mistake that should have led to a Villa breakthrough.

The Dutchman hesitated as Downing robbed him of possession to knock a simple low cross along the six-yard box but Heskey could only hit the ball against his shin as it ballooned on to the bar.

Young then bamboozled Bardsley to whip over a fine cross but - unmarked - Heskey, who had pulled away into space well, headed wide.

The second half, almost immediately, was more expansive than the forgettable first.

Once again Malbranque had an early chance, but he could not keep his well-struck half-volley down under pressure from James Collins after Darren Bent had nodded across the box well.

Bent then nearly broke the deadlock after pressuring Collins into a mistake but, after robbing the Villa defender of the ball and getting his shot away with goalkeeper Brad Freidel beaten, the Welshman slid in to save the ball on the goal-line with his midriff.

Seconds later Henderson lashed wide when the ball landed at his feet after it pinged around the box at pace.

With Villa struggling for a foothold in the game, Young took it upon himself to make something happen. But his energetic run down the line ended with a shot that was from too wide an angle to cause Sunderland keeper Craig Gordon any trouble.

The hosts were then reduced to 10 men after Heskey pushed Henderson’s jaw after his foul on Zenden, referee Kevin Friend deeming it to be violent conduct.

And the visitors made Houllier’s side pay with a little under 10 minutes left.

Zenden’s free-kick from wide on the right looked harmless as it crashed off the knees of Reo-Coker in the wall.

But Bardsley - a right-back - took a touch to control as the ball skidded towards him before cracking an instinctive low shot across Freidel into the corner of Villa’s goal to give plucky Sunderland only their second away win of the season.

Danny Welbeck was stretchered off towards the end before Asamoah Gyan also found time to miss to an easy one-on-one with Freidel while Zenden was sent off after a second yellow card for an innocuous-looking foul on Petrov.

Zenden’s first was for unsporting behaviour on the hour.

Villa did not crumble as they kept battling right to the end of five minutes added time, but they could not find the goal that would stop them falling down to 18th place in the Premier League.