Result: Aston Villa 3-1 Blackburn

Alex McLeish led Aston Villa to a 3-1 win over Blackburn Rovers in his first home game as the club's manager this afternoon.

The Villans took 10 minutes to break the deadlock thanks to Gabriel Agbonlahor's strike from the edge of the area, before Emile Heskey increased the home side's lead 15 minutes later.

Blackburn's Morten Gamst Pedersen pulled one back for the visitors with a headed goal after the break, before Darren Bent scored soon after the hour mark to give McLeish's men all three points.

Villa will next face Hereford in the Carling Cup on Tuesday (August 23), while Blackburn meet Sheffield Wednesday the next day.