Bent scores as Aston Villa stun Man City 1-0

Birmingham: Darren Bent scored on his debut on Saturday to give Aston Villa a surprising 1-0 win over Manchester City and deal a blow to the visitors' Premier League title hopes.

Bent slotted in a rebound from a tight angle in the 18th minute after goalkeeper Joe Hart weakly pushed away Ashley Young's hard shot from the edge of the area.

City nearly netted an equaliser when Nigel De Jong's shot from 25 yards out was deflected onto the post in the 84th minute but the loss drops the club into third place, three points behind leader Manchester United and with two games more played.

Villa registered only their second win in 11 league games and it lifted them further away from the relegation zone. It also gave them revenge for a 4-0 loss at Eastlands last month.

With their strike force of Carlos Tevez and Edin Dzeko, the visitors dominated for long spells but struggled to find a way past Villa's rock-solid defence, led by James Collins and former City centre-back Richard Dunne.

Villa had a let-off after 16 minutes when an in-swinging corner from Aleksandar Kolarov caused problems but neither Dzeko nor Tevez could apply the decisive touch from close range.

Bent then converted his first chance for his new club.

Gabriel Agbonlahor found Young in space and his curling effort was parried aside by Hart. But Bent was first to react to the rebound and slotted it into the corner of the net.

City tried to retaliate and Brad Friedel produced a fine save to tip Vincent Kompany's header over the bar from Kolarov's corner.

Former Villa captain Gareth Barry went close to bringing City level after 37 minutes when his glancing header slid past the far post from Jerome Boateng's threatening ball into the box.

City continued to press at the start of the second period.

Collins blocked a shot from Dzeko after the striker had cut inside following good play by David Silva. Dzeko then got on the end of a corner from Kolarov but could not keep his header down.

At the other end, Hart was called into action to turn a dipping drive from Young away for a corner.

Collins produced another superb block to deny Tevez's volley as the game entered the final 10 minutes.

In a rare Villa attack, Young poked the ball wide at the near post from Marc Albrighton's cross but one goal was enough.