Aston Villa 2-0 Newcastle United: Magnificent Danny Ings' strike helps down Magpies
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Danny Ings' acrobatic effort in first-half stoppage time was the first shot on target at Villa Park
Danny Ings scored a superb acrobatic volley on his Aston Villa home debut as they recorded a deserved victory over Newcastle to bounce back from their opening-day defeat at Watford.
In the only moment of genuine quality in a scrappy first half, Ings sent an unstoppable bicycle kick into the corner of Freddie Woodman's net after connecting perfectly with Tyrone Mings' flick-on.
Villa made the brighter start to the second half and doubled their lead through Anwar El Ghazi's penalty, awarded by referee David Coote after being instructed by VAR to go to his pitchside monitor to review a Jamaal Lascelles handball from Mings' header.
Coote awarded Newcastle a penalty of their own following Emi Martinez's late challenge on Callum Wilson, but VAR ruled that the 29-year-old striker had strayed offside in the build-up and the decision was overturned.
Wilson had missed a glorious opportunity to put the visitors ahead after just five minutes, curling wide as Villa's players appealed for a foul by the 29-year-old on Mings.
The defeat was Newcastle's 13th in the league in 2021 - only Southampton and Burnley have lost more among current top-flight teams.
Aston Villa 2-0 Newcastle United: Result better than our performance - Smith
VAR interventions cost Magpies following Ings stunner
Both teams lost high-scoring encounters on the opening weekend of the campaign - Villa 3-2 at Watford, Newcastle 4-2 at home to West Ham - but until Ings' strike, there was little goalmouth action at Villa Park.
El Ghazi and Wilson had early chances but the game became disjointed thereafter, with both sides giving away possession on a regular basis.
But Ings' goal - scored with the game's first shot on target - was worth the wait.
The former Southampton man was first to Mings' flick-on from Matty Cash's long throw-in, lashing a sweetly struck volley past Newcastle goalkeeper Woodman to send the 42,000 fans inside Villa Park into raptures.
Steve Bruce's side showed little sign of mounting a recovery after El Ghazi had doubled the hosts' lead, although they found themselves on the wrong end of a marginal offside decision which - had it gone the Magpies' way - would have given Wilson the chance to reduce the arrears from the spot.
After managing just a single effort on target throughout the 90 minutes, however, the Magpies can have few complaints with the result.
That attempt came in the seventh minute of second-half stoppage time, when substitute Joelinton sent a tame header into Martinez's arms.
Aston Villa 2-0 Newcastle United: Key decisions went against us again - Bruce
'We feel aggrieved' - what they said
Aston Villa boss Dean Smith, speaking to Match of the Day: "It was an OK performance but a much better result after last week. You have to battle for the first win and we did that today.
"We just lacked intensity last week. I called it an international friendly but you cannot do that in front of 42,000 at Villa Park.
"It is brilliant to have the fans back and they have waited 18 months to get back. It was great to give them the three points to savour.
"We have seen Danny Ings [score] against us so it is good he is an Aston Villa player now."
Newcastle boss Steve Bruce, speaking to Match of the Day: "It's not going for us, is it? We lost a game last week with a big talking point and today we feel aggrieved too. The same official is involved. Last week we were crying out for the referee to have a look at the monitor, he didn't and today he did.
"I thought VAR was for clean and obvious. The penalty for us, there were no lines drawn last week but there were this week - why? We are still talking about VAR.
"We had a decent start and a big chance but there were small margins between the teams. They got the big, key decisions at the right times."
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