Gabriel Agbonlahor was once again the scourge of St. Andrew's as his 85th minute goal denied Blues a deserved point in today's Second City derby at St. Andrew's.
The Villa striker pounced with yet another late strike bringing back painful memories of his match-winning exploits on the same ground two years earlier.
Blues had battled well and looked like gaining a draw that their performance certainly merited.
Alex McLeish's team passed the ball about well with Stuart Parnaby and Seb Larsson among the stand-out performers and Garry O'Connor manfully ploughing a lone furrow up front.
Teemu Tainio was handed his Blues debut and also put in a very impressive showing. The on-loan Sunderland man came straight into the side at right-back with Parnaby moving over to the left in place of the injured Stephen Carr.
One other change for Blues saw Keith Fahey return and captain Lee Carsley drop to the bench. Franck Queudrue donned the skipper's armband on his 50th appearance for the club.
Villa handed debuts to three late transfer window signings with Richard Dunne, Steven Warnock and James Collins replacing Ciaran Clark, Nicky Shorey and Habib Beye.
A cauldron of noise greeted the teams as they entered the field of play and the scene was set for the 116th Second City derby.
Unsurprisingly, the game started at a hectic pace with both sets of players giving their all for the cause.
The first notable chance went to the visitors but James Milner rushed his shot after being set up by Agbonlahor.
It came against the run of play as McLeish's men had made a dynamic start to proceedings and soon began to carve out their own scoring chances.
There were appeals for a penalty when Garry O'Connor's goal-bound shot appeared to be blocked by the arm of Warnock but it was hardly deliberate and the referee allowed play to continue.
Seb Larsson's follow-up shot was also stopped by some desperate last ditch defending from the visitors.
The Swede curled a dangerous free-kick into the area moments later and Roger Johnson leapt highest to connect to the ball but couldn't keep his header down.
The play switched to the other end with Milner guilty of another wasted chance when he slashed at an Agbonlahor cross and was well off target with his shot when well placed.
O'Connor was battling hard up front in the lone front role with the midfielders getting forward to support him at every opportunity.
One fine example of that saw Lee Bowyer latch onto O'Connor's flick but from a tight angle his shot was pushed behind for a corner by Brad Friedel.
When the resultant kick wasn't fully cleared by the visiting defence, Fahey tried his luck from 25 yards and his effort was only a yard or so wide of Friedel's left hand post.
Villa's chances were all falling to Milner with the England international firing wide from 20 yards and then meeting Ashley Young's in-swinging cross but side-footing well wide.
The final opportunity of the half went to the visitors and Agbonlahor should have done better with a header from six yards that flashed wide of the target.
Half-time: Blues 0 Villa 0
James McFadden was struggling with what looked like a thigh muscle strain towards the end of the first half and the Scot was unable to continue with his midfield place being taken by Carsley.
The first booking of the game arrived on 52 minutes when Larsson was cynically pulled back by Steven Sidwell with the Villa defender rightfully being shown the yellow card.
Larsson was clearly relishing the big occasion and was causing the Villa defence a lot of problems with his purposeful running.
A minute later and Carsley's curling shot was heading for the bottom corner although it lacked the power to truly test Friedel who collected the ball with ease.
Agbonlahor had his name taken by the ref after his protestations to the linesman following his foul of Queudrue.
Clear-cut chances were at premium during the second period with neither keeper seriously tested as the game moved into its final 15 minutes.
Bowyer and Young were well off target with efforts from distance as both defences stood firm.
Joe Hart had to be alert to parry away a close-range header from Sidwell and then Milner was inches away with a right-footed shot from just inside the area that got the merest of deflections off Queudrue.
McLeish introduced Christian Benitez to the action with 11 minutes remaining to loud approval from the home fans although the boss went for the safe option of like for like with the Ecuadorian replacing O'Connor.
Villa were looking the team more likely to score as the game went into the final stages and the goal arrived just five minutes from time.
John Carew headed a set piece back across goal for the un-rushing Agbonlahor to nod past Hart into the corner.
It was harsh on Blues after all their hard endeavours. McLeish reacted immediately by bringing on Kevin Phillips in place of Carsley.
As Blues pushed for the equaliser they inevitably left gaps at the back and twice Villa should have added to their tally but Agbonlahor chipped over when through on goal and then Carew laid the ball instead of shooting when also clear through and got it all wrong.
Larsson had the final chance in injury-time with a 30-yard free-kick that took a deflection off the wall and went only a couple of yards wide.
Blues: Joe Hart, Teemu Tainio, Stuart Parnaby, Roger Johnson, Franck Queudrue, Seb Larsson, Lee Bowyer, Barry Ferguson, Keith Fahey, James McFadden (Lee Carsley 46) (Kevin Phillips 86), Garry O'Connor (Christian Benitez 79)
Subs (from): Maik Taylor, Giovanny Espinoza, Gary McSheffrey, Damien Johnson, Lee Carsley.
Booking: Parnaby (84)
Villa: Brad Friedel, Steven Sidwell, Richard Dunne, Ashley Young, James Milner, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Stiliyan Petrov, Nigel Reo-Coker (John Carew 71), Carlos Cuellar, Steven Warnock, James Collins.
Subs (from): Bradley Guzan, Fabian Delph, Emile Heskey, Nicky Shorey, Habib Beye, Craig Gardner.
Goal: Agbonlahor (85)
Booking: Sidwell (52), Agbonlahor (66)
Download the team sheet in PDF format here Blues v Villa Teamsheet 13-09-09
Referee: Howard Webb (South Yorks)
Attendance: 25,196
