Paul Lambert gambled by dropping star striker Christian Benteke to the bench — but hit the jackpot when both his Aston Villa forwards combined to score in a pulsating win against Southampton.

Benteke was watching from the dugout with his hood up as Gabriel Agbonlahor scored a sensational solo goal and his replacement, the towering Czech Libor Kozak, headed in a second.

The Belgium striker was so pivotal to keeping them up last season but paid the price for his recent barren run — he has now not scored in eight games, his longest spell without a goal since he joined Villa last year. It was a midfielder, Fabian Delph, who secured the win with a 25-yard screamer but the talk afterwards was about Benteke.

Lambert justified his choice to bench a player who scored 23 goals last season, saying: ‘The club does not revolve around one player. I made a decision that I thought was the right call. We have 25 lads and I try and treat them the same way. Christian was brilliant last year but has not been hitting the heights of last year. ‘When he came on I thought he looked as if he was getting back to the powerhouse he is. Sometimes a rest is as good as playing sometimes. We have seven games this month. Kozak led the line great and got the goal.’

The south coast club suffered their third defeat in a row — the first time that has happened since Mauricio Pochettino took charge in January — and their promising start to the season is beginning to fade. But in the end it was a harsh result on them and their frustrations spilled over after the final whistle when Dani Osvaldo had to be dragged away by the Southampton manager as players from both sides rowed on the pitch.

‘That’s only normal in football,’ Pochettino said afterwards. ‘We’re angry. Emotion gets the better of you, so it’s normal there were temper tantrums at the end. I just saw there was a melee, so I went over to calm down the situation and pull my player away. ‘It’s clear we’re in a bad run at the moment. I’m not going to deny that. But we have to be strong. We keep on working. We’re experiencing the other side of football, a negative side, but we keep going.’

Osvaldo could fall victim to the FA’s new retrospective action rules as the incident did not appear to be seen by the match officials. It was the only slight on a match which ebbed and flowed with wave upon wave of Southampton pressure interspersed with Villa’s devastating attacks. The home side had already hit the woodwork and had two efforts on target when Agbonlahor opened the scoring with a terrific run and finish. Delph broke up play deep in his own half and quickly played the ball out to his team-mate. What he did next was all his own work.

The rapid striker let the ball run and completely outwitted Southampton centre back Maya Yoshida as he spun on the halfway line to race clear on the left. Dejan Lovren desperately tried to get across to cover for his defensive partner but Agbonlahor used the defender’s momentum against him and feinted inside on the edge of the box as the Southampton player dived in, before clipping the ball beyond Paulo Gazzaniga. Lambert’s throw of the dice was looked to be paying off in the first half, but three minutes into the second Jay Rodriguez equalised with a bullet header from eight yards out, sending Nathaniel Clyne’s cross past Brad Guzan into the left of goal.

Yet this time Kozak justified his selection by heading Villa in front again. Both Villa strikers combined as Agbonlahor robbed the ball off substitute Jack Cork in his own half and picked out the his strike partner with a cross which was headed in on 65 minutes. His reward? He was immediately hooked for Benteke as Lambert played his trump card.

But the game twisted again as Southampton struck back, this time within four minutes. Rickie Lambert headed Jose Fonte’s cross from the right back across goal and Osvaldo nipped in to nod in from close range. Relentless Southampton had dragged themselves back into the game again and looked certain to push for a winner themselves. It was not to be.

Villa finally cracked their opponents with 10 minutes to play with another goal out of virtually nothing. Benteke was throwing his weight around but it was Delph who struck a left-foot rocket from 25 yards which flew into the top left corner to win it. Not a bad way to score his first ever Premier League goal.

—Daily Mail