By Ryan Ghee
August 27 2005

New signing Milan Baros proved his worth as he scored the only goal of the game just eleven minutes into his debut. David O'Leary's team went on to play some great football after the early goal and fully deserved their first three-point haul of the season. The Villans attacked the Blackburn goal from the off and after 2 minutes, Dominic Matteo was called upon to clear Gareth Barry's goal-bound header.
Aston Villa continued to push for an early goal and they were rewarded after 11 minutes when Baros latched onto Phillips' through ball before calmly slotting the ball past Brad Friedel.
The home side continued to dominate proceedings even after taking the lead and Phillips, Barry and Whittingham were all denied before 30 minutes had been played.
Gavin McCann thought he had doubled Villa's lead after 34 minutes but his powerful drive whistled past Friedel's upright.
Milan Baros very nearly scored his second goal of the game just minutes before the interval but his glancing header flew wide as Whittingham desperately tried to get a touch on the ball.
Aston Villa continued to dominate after the interval as Ridgewell flicked Barry's corner onto the crossbar after 50 minutes.
The visitors finally started to get into the game in the second half as Emerton forced a great save from Sorensen after 55 minutes and Kuqi wasted a guilt-edged chance just minutes later.
With 20 minutes of the match remaining, Patrik Berger made his long-awaited Villa debut as he replaced the impressive Peter Whittingham.
As Blackburn pushed for a late equaliser, Villa caught them on the break and Kevin Phillips should have wrapped up the points on 85 minutes. Milan Baros played a perfect ball to Phillips but the striker hit the post when he looked certain to score.
Immediately after, Thomas Sorenson almost gifted Blackburn a share of the spoils but he made up for his fumbled save by bravely blocking Kuqi's close-range effort.
In the final moments of the game, Baros received his first booking for his new club after trying to con the ref into awarding a late Villa penalty.
The Villans defended in numbers for the last few seconds of the match and after an all-round solid performance, they picked up their first win of the season.