Claudio Reyna made his third straight appearance for Manchester City and assisted on Darius Vassell's second half game winner as City bagged all three points with a 1-0 road victory over Aston Villa.

In the fourth meeting of the two teams this year, the Manchester side claimed its third victory to go along with one tie in a much needed win.

Chances were scant for either side and it came down to the visitors putting away one of the few they had, while Villa's apparent equalizing effort was pulled back out of the net after forward Kevin Phillips saw his follow-up laser ruled offside.

The story of the match was former Aston Villa man Vassell, who while subject to boos all night from the home faithful, put the visitors on the board with a weak but effective shot that just had enough to make it past Danish keeper Thomas Sorensen.

Reyna found Vassell in the center of the box and with a quick turn was able to bring his goal total for the season against his former team to four, including one in Manchester's 2-1 cup replay victory last month.

Villa thought they had the equalizer when substitute forward Phillips followed up on a rebound off of City keeper David James but much to the home side's chagrin, Phillips was ruled to have been offside.

With their third consecutive win, Manchester sit 13th in England's top flight and take on Fulham at City of Manchester stadium next Saturday.