Aston Villa's winning run came to a halt as Blackburn Rovers came from behind to earn a 2-1 win at Ewood Park

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The in-form Gabriel Agbonlahor fired Villa ahead on three minutes, but they were unable to deal with Rovers' aerial prowess and Chris Samba collected a long ball on 23 minutes before firing past Brad Friedel.

Rovers were reduced to 10 men on 69 minutes following Vince Grella's second caution, but they finished the game the stronger and David Dunn snatched the points when slotting home from the spot on 89 minutes.

Agbonlahor has been in scintillating form of late and he seems to have the Midas touch at the moment. His pace is a potent weapon which Villa look to exploit at every opportunity and they did exactly that three minutes in.

James Milner showed great desire to win a header in midfield and it sent Agbonlahor scampering clear. The forward set himself for the strike but made poor contact. However, the spin that was imparted on the ball by his poor strike brought it back on target and the ball hit the base of the post before dribbling over the line.

Rovers are anything but subtle under Sam Allardyce and their response came by way of a set-piece. Pascal Chimbonda and Ryan Nelsen won headers to flick the ball into the path of Franco di Santo who smashed the ball goalwards, but former Blackburn favourite Stephen Warnock made a fantastic block.

The pattern of play saw Villa look good going forward, while Rovers looked threatening every time they secured a set-piece.

Vila almost doubled their advantage on 19 minutes, as Ashley Young whipped a glorious ball into the box which John Carew glanced a yard wide.

The threat from Rovers remained and Samba served notice of his quality in the opposition area when meeting a long ball and planting a header on to the roof of the net.

Villa failed to heed the warning and on 23 minutes Rovers' persistence was rewarded with the leveller. The away side failed to truly clear a long throw, the ball was dinked back in and a combination of Di Santo and Samba forced Richard Dunne into a poor header and the ball fell to Samba who slotted beyond Brad Friedel.

Villa were thankful to Friedel for keeping them on level terms, as the American produced a quite stunning save to deny Dunn who was left aghast when the keeper stuck out a right arm to push his volley from six yards over the top.

Villa took a leaf out of Rovers' book in the second half and threw on Emile Heskey to bolster their aerial threat. It almost paid off on the hour when a scramble in the box allowed Agbonlahor a sight of goal, but he fired over the top.

Rovers were reduced to 10 men with 21 minutes remaining as Grella was sent off for a second bookable offence, but they were not deterred and took the game to Villa in the final 15 minutes.

Dunn had a shot charged down, Brett Emerton had a shot saved and on 89 minutes Dunne was penalised for handball.

Di Santo was close to the defender when attempting his overhead kick, but Dunne had his arm raised and Mark Clattenburg had no doubts that it was a penalty.

Dunne kept his cool and sent Friedel the wrong way to secure a welcome win for Rovers.