Wanderers lost their proud unbeaten away record but they made a real fight of it at Villa Park, taking a shock early lead then stunning Villa with a brave fightback.
Michael Ricketts maintained his incredible scoring streak to stun John Gregory's men after just 67 seconds but Villa, who were chasing top spot, stormed back with goals from Juan Pablo Angel (12 mins) and Darius Vassell (42) to take a well-deserved 2-1 half-time lead.
Wanderers had a mountain to climb after Angel beat Steve Banks from the penalty spot a minute into the second period after Ricardo Gardner had been harshly judged to have pushed Hadji in a challenge for Alan Wright's cross.
But super saves by Banks from Angel and Lee Hendrie proved inspirational and when Gardner set up Ricketts for his eighth goal of the season 15 minutes from time, he set up an exciting finish in which Dean Holdsworth went desperately close with a header and Gudni Bergsson just failed to get a touch to a Ricketts' glancing header to equalise.
Villa held on to go top of the table while Wanderers lost on their travels for the first time since the April 16 defeat at Crewe during last season's promotion
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