Aston Villa 2-0 Cardiff City

Leandro Bacuna

Leandro Bacuna scored a spectacular free-kick as Aston Villa ended their Premier League goal drought against Cardiff City.

Villa had gone seven-and-a-half hours without finding the net before the Dutch winger's curling effort.

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Poor free-kick cost Cardiff in Aston Villa defeat - Mackay

Libor Kozak's header doubled the margin of victory with six minutes left.

Villa also kept their first home clean sheet for 16 games as Cardiff were brought back down to earth following their derby win over Swansea.

Before this fixture Paul Lambert's side last scored in the 3-2 win over Manchester City on on 28 September when Andreas Weimann bagged the winner.

They started brightly, though, and midfielder Karim El Ahmadi's long-range shot was parried by Cardiff goalkeeper David Marshall early on with striker Christian Benteke unable to react quickly enough to latch on to the rebound.

Benteke's strike partner Kozak went close to putting through his own net at the other end moments later when his header went inches past the post.

Analysis

"After 15 minutes you would have banked on it being a thriller at the Villa, but as the game wore on it looks more like it would be a nil-nil-er. Paul Lambert's side went seven-and-half hours without a goal but always looked the more likely team of the two teams to score in the second half. And the long wait for a goal was finally brought to an end in style by Leandro Bacuna before Libor Kozak headed home Villa's second."

A defensive mix-up let Cardiff midfielder Aron Gunnarsson pinch the ball on the edge of the penalty area in the 12th minute, but Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan scampered off his line to snuff out the danger.

The remainder of the first half became scrappy with chances at a premium.

Kozak, who joined Villa from Lazio for £7m on deadline day, brought a fine diving save out of Marshall moments after the half-time interval when he got his head on the end of Bacuna's cross from the right.

The hosts looked the more likely side to break the deadlock and almost caught Cardiff on the counter attack when El Ahmadi crossed for Benteke but the Belgium international directed his header wide.

And it was Bacuna - signed by Lambert from Groningen in the summer - who eventually broke the stalemate after being fouled by Gary Medel just outside the penalty area.

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Leandro Bacuna goal against Cardiff was fabulous - Aston Villa's Paul Lambert

The 21-year-old winger dusted himself down and curled the resulting set-piece around the Cardiff wall and into the net with Marshall rooted to the spot.

Koazk made the points safe late on when he scored Villa's second with a close-range header after Matthew Lowton had nodded the ball back across goal.

Cardiff pressed to get themselves back into the game in the remaining minutes but the home defence stood firm to secure the points.

Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert: "The players battled and were very good. Leandro's free-kick was fabulous. His goal against Manchester City was brilliant but I think that surpasses it.

"I thought we deserved to win the game. I knew it would be a tough game so it's a good win.

"The clean sheet gives us confidence going forward and I was really pleased with the result. The lads were excellent."

Cardiff City manager Malky Mckay: "Ultimately it was a good goal that made the difference. I thought we had played well until then. We had plenty of possession and were comfortable until that point. It was a poor free-kick to give away.

"Top players at this level can put the ball in the top corner and Leandro Bacuna punished us by doing that. We will learn out lesson from that.

"Overall, I'm not too disappointed because if we show that kind of application we'll be fine."

• Line-ups
• Match Stats
• Live Text

Line-ups

Aston Villa

• 1Guzan
• 7Bacuna
• 6ClarkBooked at 90mins
• 15Westwood
• 4Vlaar
• 2Baker
• 8El AhmadiSubstituted forLowtonat 74'minutes
• 24Tonev
• 20Benteke
• 27KozákSubstituted forBoweryat 88'minutes
• 18Sylla

Substitutes

• 9Helenius
• 13Steer
• 17Herd
• 21Bowery
• 34Lowton
• 36Johnson
• 37Robinson

Cardiff

• 1Marshall
• 28Théophile-Catherine
• 3Taylor
• 8MedelBooked at 75mins
• 4Caulker
• 6Turner
• 19Cowie
• 17GunnarssonSubstituted forMutchat 65'minutes
• 11OdemwingieSubstituted forCampbellat 55'minutes
• 7Whittingham
• 39BellamySubstituted forMaynardat 82'minutes

Substitutes

• 5Hudson
• 10Campbell
• 13Kim
• 16Noone
• 18Mutch
• 23Maynard
• 32Lewis

Referee:

Martin Atkinson

Attendance:

35,809

Match Stats

Home TeamAston VillaAway TeamCardiff

Possession

Home43%

Away57%

Shots

Home17

Away8

Shots on Target

Home6

Away2

Corners

Home5

Away3

Fouls

Home10

Away3

Live Text

Posted at

Match ends, Aston Villa 2, Cardiff City 0.

Full Time

Posted at 90'+5'

Second Half ends, Aston Villa 2, Cardiff City 0.

Posted at 90'+5'

Attempt missed. Peter Whittingham (Cardiff City) left footed shot from a difficult angle and long range on the right is too high from a direct free kick.

Booking

Posted at 90'+5'

Ciaran Clark (Aston Villa) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

Posted at 90'+4'

Kévin Théophile-Catherine (Cardiff City) wins a free kick on the right wing.

Posted at 90'+4'

Foul by Ciaran Clark (Aston Villa).

Posted at 90'+3'

Corner, Aston Villa. Conceded by Andrew Taylor.

Posted at 90'+3'

Attempt blocked. Leandro Bacuna (Aston Villa) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Jordan Bowery.

Posted at 90'+2'

Offside, Cardiff City. Don Cowie tries a through ball, but Fraizer Campbell is caught offside.

Posted at 90'+1'

Attempt missed. Jordan Bowery (Aston Villa) right footed shot from the right side of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Christian Benteke.

Substitution

Posted at 88'

Substitution, Aston Villa. Jordan Bowery replaces Libor Kozák.

Posted at 87'

Offside, Cardiff City. Gary Medel tries a through ball, but Steven Caulker is caught offside.

Posted at 87'

Corner, Cardiff City. Conceded by Libor Kozák.

Posted at 87'

Attempt blocked. Steven Caulker (Cardiff City) header from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Peter Whittingham with a cross.

Posted at 86'

Corner, Cardiff City. Conceded by Ron Vlaar.

Posted at 85'

Attempt blocked. Ashley Westwood (Aston Villa) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.

Goal!

Posted at 84'

Goal! Aston Villa 2, Cardiff City 0. Libor Kozák (Aston Villa) header from the centre of the box to the bottom right corner. Assisted by Matthew Lowton with a headed pass.

Substitution

Posted at 82'

Substitution, Cardiff City. Nicky Maynard replaces Craig Bellamy.

Posted at 80'

Offside, Aston Villa. Ciaran Clark tries a through ball, but Ron Vlaar is caught offside.

Posted at 80'

Corner, Aston Villa. Conceded by Steven Caulker.

Posted at 79'

Corner, Aston Villa. Conceded by Kévin Théophile-Catherine.

Goal!

Posted at 76'

Goal! Aston Villa 1, Cardiff City 0. Leandro Bacuna (Aston Villa) from a free kick with a right footed shot to the top right corner.

Booking

Posted at 75'

Gary Medel (Cardiff City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

Posted at 75'

Foul by Gary Medel (Cardiff City).

Posted at 75'

Leandro Bacuna (Aston Villa) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Substitution

Posted at 74'

Substitution, Aston Villa. Matthew Lowton replaces Karim El Ahmadi.

Posted at 73'

Attempt missed. Christian Benteke (Aston Villa) header from the centre of the box misses to the right. Assisted by Ciaran Clark with a cross.

Posted at 73'

Attempt blocked. Aleksandar Tonev (Aston Villa) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Karim El Ahmadi.

Posted at 71'

Attempt missed. Gary Medel (Cardiff City) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by Peter Whittingham.

Posted at 68'

Andrew Taylor (Cardiff City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 68'

Foul by Libor Kozák (Aston Villa).

Posted at 67'

Attempt missed. Christian Benteke (Aston Villa) header from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the left. Assisted by Karim El Ahmadi with a cross.

Posted at 66'

Fraizer Campbell (Cardiff City) wins a free kick on the right wing.

Posted at 66'

Foul by Ciaran Clark (Aston Villa).

Substitution

Posted at 65'

Substitution, Cardiff City. Jordon Mutch replaces Aron Gunnarsson.

Posted at 65'

Delay over. They are ready to continue.

Posted at 64'

Delay in match Nathan Baker (Aston Villa) because of an injury.

Posted at 63'

Attempt missed. Ashley Westwood (Aston Villa) right footed shot from outside the box misses to the right.

Posted at 61'

Foul by Gary Medel (Cardiff City).

Posted at 61'

Libor Kozák (Aston Villa) wins a free kick on the left wing.

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