West Brom reserves 0 Aston Villa reserves 3

Barry Bannan scored a spectacular goal on his first appearance in claret and blue since his arrest for alleged drink driving as Villa's reserve team defeated Albion last night.

The Scotland midfielder was bailed until next month following a crash on the M1 in the early hours of October 23, and was welcomed back into the Villa fold at the beginning of November after he had initially been suspended by the club while they conducted an internal investigation.

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Bannan had been available for Villa's 3-2 Premier League win over Norwich but boss Alex McLeish left him out and the 21-year-old gave a reminder of his qualities ahead of next Monday's trip to Tottenham with an impressive return to action in a more low-key game at The Hawthorns.

Villa fielded several players with first-team experience including Ciaran Clark and Marc Albrighton while Albion had strike duo Roman Bednar and Marc-Antoine Fortune in their starting line-up.

And it was the Baggies who enjoyed the best of the first-half chances with Fortune firing over the bar in the 19th minute after Kemar Roofe had delivered a fine cross from the left, while Romaine Sawyers twice shot wide from good positions shortly before the break.

The lively Sawyers came close to scoring again after the interval when he cut inside Shane Lowry and smashed a low shot into the side netting.

But Villa ensured they moved up to second place in the Premier Reserve League South Division, four points behind leaders Albion, with a three-goal blitz in a five-minute spell to secure the points.

Bannan created Villa's opener against the run of play in the 64th minute as his ball to the back post dropped to Albrighton who was able to lash it on the volleypast Shane Lewis from six yards.

Villa doubled their lead in the 68th minute when a mix-up between Baggies keeper Lewis and Cameron Gayle saw the ball cleared to Bannan.

The Scot instinctively struck a sweet first-time volley into the net from fully 30 yards and immediately ran over to celebrate with Villa reserve team boss Kevin MacDonald.

The visitors completed the scoring a minute later when Albrighton's low cross was only cleared as far as Graham Burke and he steered the ball home from close range.

Albion (4-4-2): Lewis, Hurst, Daniels, O'Neil, Gayle, Sawyers, Mantom, Thorne, Roofe, Fortune (Edge, 66 mins), Bednar. Subs not used: O'Sullivan, Garmston, Jones, Rose (gk).

Villa (4-4-1-1): Guzan, Webb, Clark, Lowry, Baker, Albrighton, Gardner (Carruthers, 59 mins), Johnson, Grealish (Cameron, 68); Bannan, Burke (Taylor, 81). Subs not used: Williams, Barrett (gk).

Pictures by Tony Marsh.