Villa has always been a difficult place for Bolton to go over the years and today's result marks the Wanderers worst ever defeat at Villa since they lost 5-0 in December 1962.

Bolton manager Gary Megson left last week's captain Ivan Campo on the substitutes bench in order to play Joey O'Brien and Heidar Helguson was given his first league start since early February.

Villa boss Martin O'Neill brought giant defender Zat Knight into his starting line up as he looked for his side to bounce back from their 4-0 defeat at Manchester United.

The recalled Helguson had the Wanderers best chance in the third minute but the Icelander's looping header at the far post from a Matthew Taylor cross did not trouble Scott Carson in the Villa goal.

Four minutes later the Trotters had another good chance which they should have done better with when Kevin Davies slotted through Danny Guthrie only for the young midfielder to blaze over without testing his former Liverpool collegue Carson.

These missed two chances came back to haunt Bolton as on nine minutes England international Gareth Barry had headed Villa into the lead after a good cross from the right by the dangerous Ashley Young.

Weather conditions in the Midlands included a mixture of rain, sun and sleet and this made it much more difficult for both sets of players to operate on the Villa Park pitch.

However, the greasy surface worked to Bolton's advantange when on the quarter hour mark, a ball over the top which Villa's John Carew would have normally got to, zipped straight along the surface and into the grateful arms of Wanderers keeper Ali Al-Habsi.

Villa pressed Bolton well within the opening half and the Wanderers often struggled to break out of their own half to go on the attack to create any clear cut chances.

Bolton could have gone level in bizarre circumstances on 22 minutes with a cross come shot by Kevin Davies which just dipped onto the top of Carson's crossbar.

The lively Villa midfielder Young then saw his effort from distance blocked by Taylor who had dropped back into defence for the day and at the other end Taylor was involved again with a free kick from distance which deflected out for a corner.

Any second goal in the contest looked more likely to be a Villa second than a Bolton equaliser and the Wanderers just did not look at the races as the home side kept pushing forward.

Defender Martin Laursen hit the foot of the post for Villa as the half came to a close and Nigel Reo-Coker had a further effort blocked by Bolton's Gretar Steinsson.

Helguson nearly took Bolton into the break on level terms but the injury prone forward turned the ball over the top following some good work by Davies and Taylor.

Any hopes of a Bolton comeback in the second half faded ten minutes after the restart when Gabriel Agbonlahor turned the ball home for the second goal after a good run and cross by Barry.

Full back Wilfred Bouma fired over and Reo-Coker had a shot well saved by Al-Habsi in the minutes that followed but Villa didn't have to wait too long for their third as Barry netted his second of the game on the hour when his effort deflected off Joey O'Brien.

Bolton lost all enthusiasm from there on in and the game looked as good as over as it was showed when passes from both Taylor and Davies fell way short of their intended target.

Barry looked for his hat trick with a quarter of an hour left to play but the midfielder could not get enough power behind his header to breach Al-Habsi's goal for a third time.

Villa sub Marlon Harewood nearly added a fourth on 82 minutes but the ex-Nottingham Forest and West Ham striker saw his effort go narrowly wide.

It proved to be second time lucky for the front man as three minutes later he wrapped the game up when flicking a Barry free kick past Al-Habsi.

Bolton face a critical game against West Ham United at home next weekend and this is proceeded by two difficult away trips at Middlesbrough and Tottenham Hotspur.

BOLTON WANDERERS: Ali Al-Habsi, Gretar Steinsson, Gary Cahill, Andy O'Brien, Matthew Taylor, Joey O'Brien (Tamir Cohen), Gavin McCann, Danny Guthrie, Kevin Davies, Heidar Helguson, El-Hadji Diouf

SUBS NOT USED: Jlloyd Samuel, Stelios Giannakopoulos, Ivan Campo, Ian Walker (GK)

ASTON VILLA: Scott Carson, Olof Mellberg, Zat Knight, Martin Laursen, Wilfred Bouma, Nigel Reo-Coker, Stilian Petrov (Wayne Routledge), Gareth Barry, Ashley Young (Patrik Berger), John Carew (Marlon Harewood), Gabriel Agbonlahor

SUBS NOT USED: Moustapha Salifou, Stuart Taylor (GK)

ATTENDANCE:

37,773

REFEREE:

Martin Atkinson

BOOKED:

Guthrie (Bolton)

Carew (Villa)

Reo-Coker (Villa)

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

SPORTNETWORK SPECIALS