Aston Villa 1 Bolton 2 - match report

Aston Villa gave away two goals in two minutes as they slipped to a shock defeat to Bolton Wanderers which plunges them into a relegation battle with three games left.

Stephen Warnock had given Villa the lead in the 61st minute but Bolton were 2-1 up three minutes later as the visitors punished costly defensives errors.

Carlos Cuellar gave away a clumsy penalty when he fouled Mark Davies which Martin Petrov converted in the 62nd minute and David Ngog tapped home a Chris Eagles cross in the 63rd minute to stun the home side.

It left Villa three points above the Premier League drop zone and heaped pressure on manager Alex McLeish who left the pitch to boos at the final whistle.

McLeish was forced to make three changes because of injury as Stephen Ireland (hamstring) and James Collins (groin) were ruled out while Gabby Agbonlahor (shoulder) was only fit enough for the bench.

Alan Hutton came in at right-back, Warnock was handed a central midfield role and Emile Heskey was also recalled in attack to partner Andreas Weimann.

Villa began positively and Heskey fires over while off balance in the opening minute while Chris Herd headed over from an inswinging Charles N'Zogbia corner.

Heskey controlled a looping Herd header back the box in the 22nd minute and showed fine technique to execute a volley but his shot went straight into the hands of Bolton keeper Adam Bogdan.

Bolton carved open an opportunity on the counter attack 10 minutes later as the visitors broke down the left but Ryo Miyaichi's teasing low shot was saved by Villa keeper Shay Given.

Heskey went close again moments later when he spun Bolton defender Tim Ream on the edge of the penalty area after he received the ball from N'Zogbia only to direct his shot straight at Bogdan.

It was all Villa at this point and the best chance of the half fell to Warnock in the 38th minute when he was teed up by Hutton's right-wing cutback but crashed his shot against the bar from near the penalty spot.

N'Zogbia whistled a free-kick past the post shortly before the interval but it was Bolton who looked the more likely to score as they began the second half with more purpose.

Given's reflexes were tested in the 52nd minute when Eagles, who scored a brilliant goal in the Carling Cup clash back in September, struck a fierce low drive which the Villa keeper pushed past the post.

Villa took the lead just after the hour mark, though, when N'Zogbia outfoxed the Bolton defence and slid a low ball into the box and Warnock's late run went unchecked and he stabbed the ball past Bogdan.

However, the claret and blues had barely had time to catch their breath when they found themselves behind as Bolton scored two goals in two minutes.

Cuellar clumsily brought down Davies inside the penalty area and Petrov efficiently despatched the resulting spot-kick past Given.

Owen Coyle's side then took the lead when Eagles jinked his way through Villa's defence and set up Ngog who smashed the ball home from close range.

Villa pressed in vain for an equaliser but apart from a long-range shot from substitute Barry Bannan which went past the post Bogdan was not really tested.