London, England

Christian Benteke scored a late goal to push Aston Villa past Reading at Villa Park.

He climbed above the Royals defense and his downward header flew past Federici with 10 minutes left.

Villa, which fielded eight players aged 23 or under, enjoyed the bulk of the possession and the recalled Brett Holman impressed in central midfield.

Reading seldom posed a threat to a solid Villa back four in which Ciaran Clark again impressed.

But the match appeared to be heading for a stalemate until Benteke settled the issue.

Villa's third win of the season moved them out of the Premier League bottom three in front of their lowest home league gate - 28,692 - for six years.

Darren Bent was left out of Lambert's matchday plans for the second successive game with rookie striker Jordan Bowery again preferred on the substitutes' bench.

Bent had already lost his place in the starting lineup to Benteke before being sidelined with an ankle injury.

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