Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert's first game in charge against former club Norwich City has not ended the way he would have liked with the end result a 1-1 draw.

Villa's summer signing Christian Benteke opened the scoring for Villa just before the half-hour mark before left-back Joe Bennett was sent off early in the second half for a second bookable offence prior to Michael Turner netting his first Canaries goal with just over ten minutes remaining.

Belgium international Benteke netted his second goal since joining from Genk in the 27th minute when Brett Holman's overlapping run ended with a neat cross from the Australian allowing his teammate to slot home past John Ruddy.

Things were looking good for Lambert and Villa until Bennett was sent from the pitch by referee Phil Dowd for accumulating his second yellow card for a challenge on Elliott Bennett.

That gave Norwich the ascendency and they managed to claw their way back into the contest when Turner, who joined in the summer from Sunderland, levelled with a glancing header from Wes Hoolahan's inswinging cross in the 79th minute.

The result saw Villa move up to 16th on the table by securing their sixth point of the season as Chris Hughton's Norwich remained 15th with their fourth draw from nine outings.

Aston Villa: 1 (Christian Benteke 27') Norwich City: 1 (Michael Turner 79')

Villa Park, Birmingham - 33,184

Yellow cards:AV - Joe Bennett 29'/52', Chris Herd 63' NOR - nil Red card:AV - Joe Bennett 52'