This was not acceptable

Last night, Graeme Souness and his players joined the rest of the staff for a pre-Christmas bash at Ewood which had a gangster theme.

But considering what had happened on the pitch less than 24 hours before, the last thing Souness would have wanted to be confronted by was the sight of yet more villains.

For the Villans of Aston Villa, inspired by a bonafide Colombian hit-man, pulled off the perfect heist to leave Rovers looking anxiously over their shoulder going into the festive period.

Quite simply, this was a performance that reeked of relegation.

How can a team who put up such a manful fight at Highbury a week ago then surrender to an average Villa side without so much as a whimper?

Souness was at a loss to explain the sudden transformation as he opened an inquest into what was his side's 10th defeat from their last 14 games.

Out-thought and out-fought in every department, Rovers got exactly what they deserved for a display that lacked both passion and commitment.

Hesitant defensively, ineffective in midfield, and impotent up front, I can't recall a worse performance during Souness's three and a half year reign.

Thomas Sorensen, the Villa goalkeeper, could have spent the afternoon doing his Christmas shopping because he didn't have a single shot to save in the entire 90 minutes.

On top of that, Rovers then conspired to shoot themselves in the foot by giving the Midlanders two early presents in the form of second half goals for Steffan Moore and Juan Pablo Angel.

And all this against a Villa side who hadn't won away from home in the Premiership since January.

Souness pulled no punches in his post-match Press conference.

On previous occasions this season, he has shied away from publicly criticising his players after similar lacklustre performances.

This time, however, he made no attempt to hide his feelings in the wake of a display he described as 'unacceptable.'

"I've never had to say this before but we played without passion and aggression and that's something that I've demanded from my players wherever I've been," said Souness.

"If you don't have that then you've got no chance at any level of football and especially the highest.

"It was like a boxer losing a fight and not throwing any punches.

"It's very, very disappointing and we'll have to come up with the answers.

"The two goals we conceded were very, very disappointing but I can't deny that Villa deserved to win."

If Rovers didn't know they were in a dog-fight before, then they certainly do now.

This was a golden chance to put some much-needed daylight between themselves and the bottom three.

Back-to-back home games against two of the Premiership's lesser lights was hardly the most testing of Christmas programmes on paper but now the meeting with Middlesbrough on Boxing Day has become a huge six-pointer.

Rovers will have to raise their game several notches, however, to stand any chance of beating Boro as few players emerged with any credit from this encounter.

Lucas Neill and Craig Short both looked jittery at the back, Tugay had one of those days where every pass seemed to go sideways or backwards, and Souness's decision to play Paul Gallagher on the left of midfield had to be scrapped by half-time.

In truth, Villa could and should have had the points wrapped up by half-time.

In contrast, Rovers were ponderous and predictable going forward as they disappeared down a series of blind alleys.

The service into Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke was diabolical at times and neither player threatened to manufacture an opening for themselves.

Credit must be given to Villa who certainly didn't look like a side who hadn't won on their travels for almost a year.

Whenever Rovers attacked, the visitors always had at least eight men behind the ball, defending in two banks of four.

Gavin McCann and Lee Hendrie were terrier-like in midfield and Dion Dublin mopped up everything at the back as Rovers played right into his hands by lumping too many hopeful balls forward.

Now Souness must find a way to raise his players for what could be a crucial point in the season.

Ironically, it was Rovers who made the brighter start.

Brett Emerton, who had another frustrating afternoon, picked out Yorke with a rare cross from the right but the striker's header sailed over the top of the bar.

That proved to be a false dawn, however, as things rapidly went downhill from then on.

Hendrie raced clear after Neill failed to cut out a pass from Angel but the midfielder's shot was tipped aside by Friedel.

Then Short gave the ball away to Angel in the area and the Colombian teed up Peter Whittingham, who drilled a low drive just wide of the post.

In a rare moment of danger at the opposite end, Cole saw a goal-bound shot blocked by Jlloyd Samuel.

But Villa continued to pose problems on the break as they exposed Rovers' weakness down the left.

Angel forced another smart save out of Friedel and a Mark Delaney cross just evaded Moore at the far post.

Souness attempted to plug the leak at half-time by replacing Gallagher with Vratislav Gresko but the second half followed a similar pattern to the first.

Angel, who was a constant menace up front, dragged another effort just wide of the upright then Rovers imploded in the 62nd minute.

Dublin's free-kick was flicked on by Angel and the ball appeared to be running harmlessly out of play.

However, Gresko and Friedel suddenly froze and Hendrie nipped in to guide a header across goal where Moore was lurking at the far post to hook it into an empty net.

To say it was a gift would be an understatement.

Villa nearly pounced again when Darius Vassell beat his marker to a Gareth Barry cross but his flick struck Friedel.

They did grab a second, though, on 74 minutes when Samuel crossed from the left and Angel tucked away the goal his performance deserved courtesy of a neat close-range finish.

Talk about spoiling the party.

ROVERS 0

ASTON VILLA 2

Moore 62, Angel 74