Villa extend winning run with victory at Burnley
Defender Matty Cash scored twice in the first half as Aston Villa won 3-1 at Burnley in the Premier League on Sunday to continue their winning run. Cash, playing his 100th match for Villa, was the unlikely hero as he scored for the first time for over a year in Villa's third straight victory in all competitions since their 5-1 thrashing at Newcastle United on the opening day of the season. "It was really amazing because we know before the match it is very difficult to win here. They are so excited to play in the Premier League," Villa manager Unai Emery told the BBC. "We respect them a lot and we were very focussed and tried to correct the mistakes we made at Newcastle. Those three points for us are very important." The Poland international put the visitors in front in the eighth minute as he turned in a looping Ollie Watkins cross at the end of a swift counter-attack. Cash doubled the lead 12 minutes later, steering home Moussa Diaby's cutback to complete a slick move. Belgian defender Hannes Delcroix, who was signed from Anderlecht this month, had a debut to forget in Burnley's back line but did well to deny Diaby with a well-timed interception. Vincent Kompany's Burnley began the second half on the front foot and were rewarded with a goal in the 47th minute as Lyle Foster outmuscled Pau Torres in the area and rifled his shot past Robin Olsen. In a frenetic 10 minutes after the goal, Burnley had several chances to equalise, with Olsen keeping out a goal-bound Delcroix header, but Villa weathered the storm. As Burnley continued to commit bodies forward in their hunt for a leveller, Villa struck again in the 61st minute through Diaby, who slotted home from the edge of the area. Watkins and substitute Nicolo Zaniolo spurned late golden opportunities but Villa coasted to a second league win and provisionally climbed to sixth in the standings. Burnley's second straight loss left them down in 18th, though they have played only two games after last week's fixture at Luton Town was postponed due to stadium works at Kenilworth Road. "Learning comes at a price in the Premier League. You can see the quality of the Aston Villa team when they took their chances, credit to them," Burnley manager Kompany said. "We didn't start the game badly at all, but didn't manage to get a real grip on the game... We conceded a goal at the height of the momentum, a very good side who are very well coached. We are there in parts but we will have to learn from it when you get punished." Burnley travel to Nottingham Forest in the League Cup on Wednesday and Villa host Hibernian in the second leg of a Europa Conference League playoff tie on Thursday. Villa won the first leg 5-0. (Reuters)