1 Aston Villa
0 Crystal Palace
by Simon Williams
at Villa Park

Aston Villa ended a run of 19 games without a win with a 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace at Villa Park.

Joleon Lescott put aside his recent differences with the club’s fans to secure the team’s first victory in the league since the opening day of the season — and the first under manager Remi Garde.

The 33-year-old defender’s name was greeted by a chorus of boos when read out before kick off after an incident with supporters during Saturday’s FA Cup tie at Wycombe.

But the self-confessed Villa fan turned from zero to hero when his header from a Jordan Veretout corner squirmed from the grasp of Palace keeper Wayne Hennessey to give his side all three points.

After the game Garde was keen to concentrate on his captain’s performance on the night.

“I’m pleased with the way he gave an answer tonight, but not regarding that. He is a very important player for the team and tonight he gave the right answer,” said the Frenchman.

The visitors started the better of the two sides and could have taken the lead in the opening minute of the game through Wilfried Zaha, who saw his shot hit the foot of the post.

Bakary Sako and Damien Delaney both had good chances for the Eagles before Libor Kozak forced a superb save from Hennessey.

But the Welsh international undid all his good work by allowing Lescott’s tame header to slip through his fingers and over the line.

Despite the win, Villa remain rooted to the foot of the table, eight points from safety.

However Garde believes he victory could be the “turning point” of the season. He said: “We have to stay very humble because it’s only three points, we’re far away from what we all want.

“Let’s hope this victory can give us a little bit more confidence. The way we played, I didn’t see a bottom team.“

And Palace manager Alan Pardew also believed that the hosts deserved the victory.

“You have to say that they deserved their victory tonight even though the goal was fortunate in some ways,” he said.

“We’ve come across an Aston Villa side that worked very hard, regrouped themselves and having seen a few of their games this was their best performance.

“They’re a great club and the Premier League wouldn’t want to lose a club of this magnitude.”