Lowly Aston Villa closed the gap to Premier League safety with a 2-0 win over fellow strugglers Norwich City at Villa Park this afternoon.
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Gabriel Agbonlahor was making just his second league start since early November and spurned the only clear-cut chance of the opening exchanges when he flicked Leandro Bacuna's low cross wide of the mark.
Norwich were the better team in the middle part of the half, with strikers Dieumerci Mbokani and Steven Naismith both threatening with speculative shots from distance before Sebastien Bassong headed into the ground and over with the Canaries' clearest opening of the first 45.
It seemed that the match was meandering towards a goalless half until the final minute when Villa snuck in front through Joleon Lescott, whose downward header diverted off Canaries defender Timm Klose and past Declan Rudd.
Five minutes into the second half the lead was doubled as Agbonlahor applied the finish, beating an out-of-position Rudd from a narrow angle for his first league goal of the season.
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Norwich needed a quick response and they almost got it when Naismith found the run of Gary O'Neil, but the midfielder could only stab wide on the stretch from 15 yards.
Leandro Bacuna blazed over as Villa looked to put the game to bed before Norwich twice were denied in the final 10 minutes.
First Russell Martin's header was cleared off the line by Jores Okore before Lescott did the same to keep out Mbokani's deflected effort.
It is just a third league win of the season for Villa, who stay bottom but close the gap to safety to eight points, with Norwich dropping into the bottom three because of Newcastle United's win over West Bromwich Albion.
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Pascal Lemesre
