Captain Martin Laursen got the hosts off to to a flying start inside eight minutes and despite Thomas Vermaelen's equaliser, the Villans claimed the points thanks to Gareth Barry's strike with seconds of the first half remaining.

Laursen had the ball taken off his toe as he prepared to tap home James Milner's far post knock-down in the seventh minute but the Danish defender had to wait only 60 seconds to open the scoring.

Ashley Young's corner tempted goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer off his line but Laursen got in front of the Ajax stopper to powerfully head Villa into an early lead.

The Villans looked good value for their advantage, getting the ball wide to Young and James Milner on a regular basis, but Ajax grabbed an equaliser half-way through the first-half when Urby Emanuelson's corner from the left was headed home by Vermaelen from five yards.

Another Emanuelson corner nearly lead to another Ajax goal after half-an-hour but Jan Klass Huntelaar prodded wide from close range following a near-post flick on.

Young wasted a glorious opportunity to put the hosts back in front when he was picked out by Milner's deep cross, but with time and space, the young England prospect miskicked harmlessly wide.

Young did however play a huge role in restoring Villa's lead right on the stroke of half time. Nicky Shorey's pass put Young in behind the Ajax defence down the left, and his pull back found Barry, who coolly sidefooted into the far corner from just inside the box

Villa started the second half on the front foot, and were denied a third by Vermeer's double save, first parrying Shorey's drive before recovering to gather Laursen's follow-up header.

Huntelaar saw his 75th-minute free-kick from just outside the boss deflected over the bar by the Villa wall however Brad Friedel was called into action moments later, diving low to his left to parry Emanuelson's driven shot from outside the box.

But Villa held on in with relative comfort to claim the victory, which was marred only by Gabriel Agbonlahor being carried off late on with a knee injury.