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Scott Barefoot reports

Leeds at last looked the sum of the multi-million pound parts after they came from behind to blow away Aston Villa in front of England coach Sven Goran Eriksson.

A second half penalty from the recalled Ian Harte sealed the points for David O'Leary's young side after Lee Bowyer had equalised Paul Merson's 24th minute strike in the first half.

However Aston villa John Gregory will rue the two brilliant Merson strikes that hit the frame in the space of 30 seconds just moments before the final whistle confirmed Leeds second successive away win.

A satisfied O'Leary said after the game: "With the quality we have here and the product we are letting ourselves down. The spirit is good but this might be exactly what we need."

In truth, Leeds were well worth the victory which leaves Villa in 13th position. And with only one league in the last 11 games and five successive defeats their fans have every right to be concerned.

Eriksson, however, could not fail to be impressed by the towering performances of Bowyer and Johnathon Woodgate. The troubled pair contributed significantly to a spirited collective display that could well be the catalyst of an Elland Road revival.

Both sides went into the match out of form and the early exchanges were littered with misplaced paces. Robbie Keane, who covered every blade of grass, won the first corner of the match but saw Bowyer hammer well wide when the ball dropped to his feet on the edge of the Villa penalty area.

Gregory gave club record £9.5million signing Juan Pablo Angel his home debut in the Villa firing line, but there was no place in the starting line up for Dion Dublin who was axed for the first time in his Villa career.

Woodgate headed away a dangerous centre from Steve Stone after good play by Merson just after Mark Viduka shot had tamely wide. Lee Hendrie was also off target with a 20-yard effort before Angel had his first sniff of a chance after 18 minutes.

Ian Taylor sent the Colombian international free of the Leeds defence but Woodgate made a splendid challenge to deny him a first moment of glory and Angel was forced to chase the ball into the corner after his control let him down.

Villa stormed into the lead on 24 minutes when Merson stole in on the blind side to fire home powerfully past Robinson. The low strike owing everything to a fabulous piece of vision from Taylor who flicked on Gareth Barry's left-wing cross.

Villa's lead lasted only four minutes, however. The creator of Bowyer's equaliser was Keane, who threaded a beautiful pass into the path of the indefatigable midfielder who cleverly side-footed the ball past David James from eight yards.

At half-time Luc Nilis came on to the Villa Park turf to thank the Villa fans for their support following his decision to retire from the game after his failure to fully recover from his horror injury obtained at Portman Road earlier in the season.

The start of the second period saw the home support baying for Angel to demonstrate just why a small fortune had been spent on him. However the expected brilliance never arrived and Gregory will hope there are better performances to come from his Colombian who at times looked way off the pace.

Nevertheless it was Villa who came close to breaking the deadlock early in the second period when Steve Stone clipped the bar following Robinson's superb parry from George Boateng's firmly struck long shot.

But the visitors snatched the lead when Gareth Barry stupidly held down Keane in the box following a deft cross from Viduka, and Harte confidently did the rest from the penalty spot as he sent James the wrong way.

Villa launched a desperate late bid to salvage a point and Merson beat Robinson all ends up with a rising shot that came back off the woodwork and then a delicate chip thudded against the bar and rebounded to safety.

MAN OF THE MATCH: BOWYER (LEEDS)
Another all action performance from the midfielder that just pipped Paul Merson for the plaudits

Aston Villa: James, Stone (Delaney 80), Alpay, Staunton, Barry, Wright (Ginola 69), Taylor (Vassell 54), Boateng, Hendrie, Merson, Angel.
Subs Not Used: Dublin, Enckelman.
Booked: Alpay, Barry.

Leeds: Robinson, Kelly, Woodgate, Ferdinand, Harte, Bowyer, Dacourt (Batty 77), Bakke, Matteo (Wilcox 45), Viduka, Keane (Smith 76).
Subs Not Used: Martyn, Mills.
Goals: Bowyer 28, Harte 75 pen.

Att: 29,335
Ref: S Bennett (Orpington).

GREGORY: WE'LL GET OUT OF THIS SLUMP

Aston Villa manager John Gregory insisted that his side need to pull together to pull out of their terrible recent spell.

The Villans loss at home to Leeds means that they have lost five Premiership games on the bounce, ironically, every game since their victory over the Whites on Boxing Day.

However, Gregory was standing firm, insisting: "We have been through these spells twice before and came through them and then we never looked back and things really picked up for the rest of the season.

"We have to do the same sort of thing now and we must all stick together and I'm confident we can put things right.

"In all honesty I am not disappointed with the way the boys played. We deserved at least a draw. In reality we have been beaten by a penalty which I thought was a bit harsh. Now we have to make sure we put things behind us in the FA Cup tie."

They went through a similar spell last season which almost resulted in Gregory's dismissal. They went two months without a win from September, yet recovered and finished sixth.

Leeds boss David O'Leary admitted that his team rode their luck a bit on the way to a result that would silence the critics.

He stated: "I think that result would have shut a few people up although we rode our luck a bit at the end when Paul Merson showed some typical magic.

"We gave a silly goal away but I thought in the first 45 minutes we passed the ball a lot better than we have been doing. We have been letting ourselves down a lot and the off-the-field disruptions have made things not very enjoyable.

"But the bottom line now is about getting results and points on the board. The silly thing is we have been flying when we have come to Villa the last couple of years and ended up getting turned over whereas it's been the opposite with tonight.

"There was no outstanding player out there but the team worked hard for each other and were hard to beat. It's an excellent result for us."