Blackburn beat Villa at Ewood Park
Saturday, 11 March 2006 19:26Blackburn closed to within three points of Tottenham in the race for the final Champions League spot after a 2-0 victory over Aston Villa at Ewood Park.
Second half goals from Andy Todd and Craig Bellamy secured the three points for Mark Hughes's team who leap-frogged Arsenal and Bolton into fifth place in the English Premiership table.
The Lancashire outfit are one of the form teams at the moment and demonstrated their undoubted Champions League potential with a highly-competent performance.
With just nine games still to play, Blackburn are firmly entrenched in a four-way battle with Spurs, the Gunners and Bolton for that vital fourth spot and a place in the qualifying phase for Europe's top competition next season.
For Villa, though, the defeat all but ended any faint lingering hopes they may have had of challenging for a UEFA Cup spot, leaving them in 14th place.
Todd opened the scoring on 49 minutes after a goalmouth scramble following a corner. Villa goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen saved Bellamy's shot after a corner and he failed again with a second attempt before Todd slotted home.
Bellamy did finally get on the scoresheet, though, with a crisp right-foot shot 20 minutes from time.
