Aston Villa 0 Newcastle United 1  Todays match reviewer Screacher, has just returned from a hedge trimming trip in Eastern Europe. Although suffering from jetlag and a nasty hangover, our intrepid reporter made the dangerous trip down the M6 from the leafy suburbs of Lesser Manchester to bring you this exclusive report.  Well, it wasn't a thriller at Villa, but the result was what was needed. Met up with Josh for the short trip down the M6 and eventually found Dougal hiding behind a cash machine in New Street station. Eventually after a spot of hedge trimming I met the rest of the BBS in the Cap and Gown, cunningly renamed from the Witton Arms where everybody had expected to meet. Present were Josh, Dougal, ITK, Gav, Grant and Dommyboy as well as yours truly for a few aperitifs before facing the weather. Things were surprisingly quiet in the pub until Monkey Heed appeared on TV in his pre-match tea-tasting interview. This seemed to loosen the vocal chords, and it was non-stop singing from that point onward.  Inside the ground, the Villa fans were conspicuous by their absence, with large areas empty. After 90 minutes of football, it wasn't hard to see why. I've seen Villa live 3 times this season and they've been below average on each occasion. Long may it continue. Newcastle lined up:- Harper Dabizas .... Dumas ..... Helder.. Solano (sub Barton)..............Lee ................Speed ............Pistone Maric (Ferguson) Shearer ..................... Ketsbaia Hughes came on for Kets who dropped making a 8 man defence for the last 8 minutes, Glass and Given weren't used. Villa lined up without any of the 3 geordies on their books, although Alan Thompson did make an appearance after Lee Hendrie was injured early on. Steve Stone was on the bench but Steve Watson who practises the same "Occult " as I do was no where to be seen. (To read all about superstitious Steve, click on his picture)  The game wasn't a startler, and Villa pressed early on without really causing any worries. Harper made a good save in the first half, but wasn't challenged otherwise. We were happy to sit back and let them come at us. Helder and Dumas simply cleared any threat before it became dangerous. Helder's positional play was brilliant and his tackling and interceptions were top class. YBR will have to work wonders to prise him away from Spain / Portugal. Despite having not played for 9 months before his impressive debut last week, and considering the conditions today, which at times would have made the weather at Kingston Park seem sub-tropical, he turned in an almost flawless performance. MotM by a long chalk.  Alongside him, Dumas looked cool (sic) and in total control. The surprise to me was Dabizas playing on the right of a back four. It goes to show how highly YBR must rate him when Barton and Hughes were on the bench.  I'd say Solano was the best of the midfield, tackling back to great effect and putting in some useful crosses. Lee and Speed played solidly and Maric showed little - in fact, I'd forgotten he was playing until he came up our end in the second half. Eventually, YBR saw the light and brought on Big Dunc, moving Kets back into midfield to replace Maric.  Kets had a typical Kets game. Some good and some not quite so good, but if my memory and failing eyesight didn't let me down, it was his cross that Ferguson met powerfully with his heed to score the only goal of the game - much to the delight of the guy behind me who had been constantly shouting "put it on his f***ing heed" since he came on. I thought Ferguson was brilliant - a constant threat to the Villa defence, and he won every ball in the air.  Please, please stay fit, Big Yin - we need you. His partner up front, although not scoring, had a great game, holding the ball up and laying off to midfield. But its about time he scored. Thursday will do nicely Al.  I never felt we were threatened today. OK, Harper made some excellent saves in the second half when Villa pressed for an equalizer, but the defence stood resolute and did a superb job. Top marks for acting have to go to our own Sandro, who looked like he'd never play again as he barely made it to the touchline after a heavy challenge. However, the magic sponge did it's trick and he was galloping about again soon after. In previous games earlier in the season, when we've been ahead, I rarely felt comfortable and we went on to squander leads at Spurs and Soton. Today was different, and I can honestly say that once we scored, I felt that we were going in to win. A nice feeling, that!  By contrast to the first half, which seemed to last 35 minutes, I'm sure the second half more than made up for it, but eventually Mike Riley brought the game to a close and we went away in a happy mood, celebrating the first away win of the season. Talking of Mike Riley, I thought he had a good game (tho' no doubt everybody else will think he was pants). Apart from booking Speed for time wasting after 35 minutes (35 minutes, I ask you. Can you believe it?) he controlled the game well and allowed play to flow, yet cautioned offenders when the ball came to rest. One of the best performances from an official that I have seen this year in the Premiership. Perhaps the message is finally getting through. Good to see such a good turn out from the BBS. More of the same from the team and we'll be in the top half just after Christmas. By Screacher (author of the world renown magazines, "Obsessive Hedge trimming ", And star of the forthcoming Granada lifestyle TV series. "Pole to Pole, trimming all the way ")

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