Aston Villa 2 Leeds 1
Aston Villa got the better of their Premiership counterparts Leeds in the Dublin tournament at Tolka Park this afternoon.
Villa's Mustapha Hadji played a leading role but was unable to convert chances into goals. Leeds striker Alan Smith was then denied a penalty on the half hour mark after he was pushed off the ball.
Smith was arguably the best player on the pitch in the first half with the striker having to receive treatment on 37 minutes following a clash with Hadji.
Juan Pablo Angel headed over for Villa just before the break as Leeds French striker Sahko, formerly of Manchester City, linked well with James Millner before firing straight at Stefan Postma.
The second half saw 10 changes from David O'Leary's starting line-up with four replacements on the Leeds side.
Immediate action came when a Peter Crouch header from a Ulises De la Cruz cross hit Paul Robinson's cross bar.
The breakthrough came when a deep Villa cross on 51 minutes was met again by Crouch and he turned well and fed the ball into the path of Hassan Kachloul who fired home from 12 yards.
Nick Barmby was pulled down in the area but awarded nothing on 56 minutes, before Villa made it two with an individual goal from Thomas Hitzlsperger, who drove home on his right foot from 20yards out.
The lively Barmby headed home past substitute Petr Enckelman on 87 minutes for a late Leeds consolation.
In the first match today St Pat's beat Shelbourne on penalties in the four-team tournament.