Liverpool 1 Villa 3 - The Swain Game

A performance straight out of the very best vintage of last season's combination of furious defiance and counter-attacking menace gave them their first victory at Liverpool in eight years and left their hosts, beaten at home in the league for the first time in nearly two years, looking a darn sight more sickly.

We can only wonder at just how much this remarkable and defiant Irishman would have relished the perfectly-plotted and expertly-executed 3-1 victory.

It was Liverpool who jolted the Lerner-O'Neill development programme 15 months ago by first putting the skids under Gareth Barry's future at the club, triggering an unseemly transfer wrangle but one which reminded Villa where they stood in the Premier League food chain.

Then came last season's cruel but cutting 5-0 hammering at Anfield, a result which extended and aggravated a decline of such alarming proportions that O'Neill's team returned to the scene of that carnage with just two wins in 18 games.

The Villa boss always felt that last season's heavy defeat offered a distorted view of the game and last night's response brought him immense satisfaction.

It certainly helped keeping 11 men on the pitch on this occasion – especially as it was goalkeeper Brad Friedel who got red-carded last season but who returned last night to defy his former club with a string of fine saves.

It would be tempting to give Friedel the Man of the Match award, but that might be to exaggerate the threat to Villa's goal from a misfiring Liverpool side – there was an awful lot driven at him which you would expect any Premier stopper to deal with.

No, for my star man, step forward Curtis Davies, who gave one of his finest performances in central defence, at a time when Villa are openly talking about the former Albion defender now needing surgery to pin down a shoulder which keeps 'popping out' - and did so again in the previous match.

Not only did Davies provide an answer to everything Liverpool threw at him, but he also found time to claim Villa's second goal from a corner on the brink of half-time.

Yes, it was all very Martin Laursen and although Davies will have to repeat this level of performance many more times to convince Villa fans the retired Dane's heir is apparent, at least it's a start.

The criticism which accompanied an increasingly feisty O'Neill to this game had nothing to do with the quality of the players at his disposal, but the fact that there were not enough of them. That is something one splendid result cannot mask.

But, even though O'Neill doubters will point out that all three goals came from set pieces, this was a result carved out with cussed tenacity by a team which badly, badly needed it. How did they pull it off?

Villa fans will recognise the strategy forged around the three-man midfield curtain provided by Stiliyan Petrov, Steve Sidwell and Nigel Reo-Coker.

The claret and blues needed a little good fortune in the opening 10 minutes to survive one almighty pile-up in front of Friedel which flummoxed the flailing boots of Fernando Torres, Steven Gerrard and Yossi Benayoun, but after that they began sniping with great success at Liverpool's patrols.

Reo-Coker was hugely energetic but in Petrov and James Milner there were the hints of class and composure Villa needed on the ball. Ashley Young stuck to his twin assignment of supporting Gabby Agbonlahor while policing Glen Johnson, the attack-minded England right back.

Then, on a night of almost surreal stillness around this famous old stadium, Villa got the break that eluded them last season just after the half hour when a Young free-kick was obligingly headed past goalkeeper Jose Reina by the struggling Brazilian Lucas.

Liverpool's frustration at their failure to break down Davies and his fellow defenders – Carlos Cuellar and Habib Beye also earning their spurs after a much maligned contribution to date – doubled on the fringe of the interval when referee Martin Atkinson ignored Anfield's pressures and awarded Sidwell a corner in added time.

Nicky Shorey's flag kick was precise to the near post, where Davies popped up in front of Jamie Carragher and flicked home a Laursen-like finish.

Everything then hinged on Villa's resistance to the storm they knew would come at them at the start of the second half but survive they did, Friedel coming into his own with some vital saves from Torres and Gerrard, Kuyt striking the outside of the post with another effort.

Liverpool did finally break through when they got a break of their own in the 72nd minute for Torres to finish expertly and it was Villa's response to this that probably pleased O'Neill most, his midfield controlling possession, before Shorey slipped in the unstoppable Reo-Coker for a run at goal which drew a penalty from none other than skipper Gerrard.

Young's composure in killing off Liverpool was admirable and Villa were able to repeat the scoreline enjoyed by John Gregory's team back in 2001, a prelude to a brief visit to the top of table before lack of numbers again saw that side slide away.

t is an old, old Villa story O'Neill is still trying to resolve to this day and the frustration of supporters still waiting for significant signings to strengthen their challenge will not be changed by a similar Anfield success.

Indeed, it may add to them. If this is what Villa, stretched to the point of naming a bench packed with academy rookies, can do under such duress, what might they be capable of with even greater resources at the manager's disposal?