Aston Villa dominated for long periods but a late goal saw them go down 3-2 at Bolton and keep them in the relegation mix. Twice Villa took the lead then Ashley Young missed a penalty to make it 3-1 which gave the Wanderers hope and a late strike from Ivan Klasnic proved decisive.
Darren Bent opened the scoring for the visitor's as they sought to extend their eight game unbeaten run. The prolific striker also hit the woodwork as they created enough chances to have won comfortably.
Gary Cahill levelled with a header on the stroke of half-time but Marc Albrighton restored Villa's lead just after the hour.
Cahill again restored parity against the run of play then with four minutes remaining substitute Klasnic hit home the winner to fire Bolton up to sixth position in the league.
Referee: Kevin Friend
Venue: Reebok Stadium Attendance: 22,533
Bolton scorers: Cahill 45+2, 75, Klasnic 86 Aston Villa scorers: Bent 15, Albrighton 64
BOLTON 22 Jaaskelainen (yellow card) 02 Steinsson (yellow card) 04 Robinson 05 Cahill 31 Wheater (yellow card) 06 Muamba (Davies 60) 08 Holden (yellow card) 10 Petrov (Lee 60) 09 Elmander (yellow card) (Klasnic 67) 14 Davies 15 Sturridge
Substitutes 01 Bogdan, 25 Alonso, 07 Taylor, 16 Davies, 27 Lee, 17 Klasnic, 19 Moreno
ASTON VILLA 01 Friedel 02 L Young 21 Clark (yellow card) 32 Baker 36 Walker (yellow card) 06 Downing 07 Young 12 Albrighton (Agbonlahor 83) 16 Delph (Petrov 77) 20 Reo-Coker 39 Bent
Substitutes 33 Marshall, 08 Pires, 13 Bradley, 19 Petrov, 31 Herd, 11 Agbonlahor, 18 Heskey
