Gabriel Agbonlahor ended his run of 28 league games without a goal by scoring Aston Villa's winner at Sunderland.

The striker broke the stalemate when he stabbed in from close range after a knock-down from Christian Benteke.

Sunderland wanted a penalty when John O'Shea's glanced header struck the arm of Benteke but the referee waved away their appeals.

Louis Saha headed a late Sebastian Larsson cross agonisingly over for the home side but Villa held on.

A handful of Sunderland fans had begun to make their way out of the stadium after Saha's chance as they did not expect the top flight's lowest scoring side, with six goals, to equalise - and they were proved right.

The defeat ended a week in which the struggling Black Cats were knocked out of the Capital One Cup by Middlesbrough and they have now won only once in their last 17 games.