Premier League: Blackburn Rovers 2 Aston Villa 0

A double from Morten Gamst Pedersen fired Blackburn away from the relegation zone in front of the club’s new owners in a 2-0 win over Aston Villa.

Venkateshwara and Balaji Rao, the directors of Indian firm Venky’s, received warm applause when they greeted the Ewood Park crowd after they completed their takeover this week. And they will have been delighted to receive an immediate dividend on their investment with a hard-fought three points against a young Villa side.

The visitors started brightly with Stewart Downing and Stephen Ireland combining well to stretch the home defence. They created a clear-cut opportunity early on in bizarre circumstances after referee Michael Oliver had accidently brought down Rovers defender Gael Givet. They broke quickly and fed Ashley Young but his low cross shot was smartly turned away by Paul Robinson. At the other end, veteran Brad Friedel was taking a battering from a physical Blackburn attack as a series of high free-kicks and corners were launched into the box but the former Rovers keeper looked to be up to the task. But he got it wrong on the stroke of half-time when the American misjudged Pedersen’s free-kick from close to the touchline that eluded his outstretched hand and curled into the top corner. Villa came out for the second fired up and Young went close twice in the opening three minutes. He drilled a shot that Robinson did well to parry away before smashing a header against the crossbar.But they were undone by a corner midway through the second half.

El-Hadji Diouf’s out-swinger was cleared to Ryan Nelsen whose fierce shot was deflected in from close range by Pedersen.

Former Arsenal midfielder Robert Pires came into the fray for his first Premier League appearance since 2006 but struggled to have an influence.

However, fellow substitute Chris Herd almost made an immediate impact within seconds of coming on but his header was cleared off the line by Michel Salgado.