Villa 0 Portsmouth 0
Goalkeeper David James finally landed the record for the most number of clean sheets in the Premiership as he helped Harry Redknapp's Portsmouth side to a 0-0 draw at Villa Park, beating the record formerly held by David Seaman.
James has now kept the ball out of the net 141 times in this league and it was perhaps even sweeter that he did it against a side for whom he made 85 appearances between 1999 and 2001.
And what magnificent saves he chose in this encounter to ensure the record found its way into his safe palms - denying a hatful of Villa chances in both halves.
Villa had gone into the game unbeaten in five and knowing that the last time Pompey took the spoils from Villa Park was back in 1975. Then, manager Tommy Docherty lost his job on the back of that result while Villa plummeted into the Third Division - there was no such significance riding on this fixture.
In fact, Martin O'Neill's rejuvenated men had started brightly enough with the Northern Irishman opting to return striker John Carew and midfielder Patrik Berger to the fray after both missed the trip to Middlesbrough through injury.
O'Neill chose however to keep faith with Craig Gardner, dropping Shaun Maloney to the bench to make way for Berger against his former club, while there was not even a place on the bench for Gavin McCann.
And the gamble looked to have worked early on as Gardner repaid his faith in the manager with two fine attempts - the first after skipper Gareth Barry had cut inside. The Yardley-born midfielder connected well enough but saw his shot sail over the bar.
In the 38th minute and, again finding himself in acres of space, Gardner forced a fine parried save from James.
Carew too seemed to have a shoot-on-sight policy as he tested James time and again - one blistering shot on 50 minutes forcing a fine reflex save from the Pompey custodian before the giant Norwegian finally beat the man between the posts only to see his effort disallowed for offside.
Barry - marking a record of his own by notching up his 350th appearance for the club - also decided to test the capability of the former England keeper - his 22nd minute long range effort found James up to the task while a fine half-volley after Berger had done well to charge the ball down sailed just over the bar.
In the second half O'Neill chose to spice things up by bringing on a trio of fast forwards - Luke Moore replacing Carew, Ashley Young coming on for Phil Bardsley and Shaun Maloney for Berger.
Pompey boss Harry Redknapp also jockeyed his side bringing on Lomana Lualua for Kanu and Glen Johnson for the jaded Niko Kranjcar.
But still Villa dominated and still they were thwarted by the goalkeeper while James's opponent at the other end of the field, Thomas Sorensen could only watch and admire the masterclass at the other end.
To be fair to the Villa keeper, he had little to do and even Pompey's Matt Taylor, who has become proficient in the art of scoring from long range, could only test the side netting with a 30-yard effort.
Taylor himself was later pushed into a deeper role as Portsmouth battled to cope with the tidal wave of pressure from Villa's pacy young guns and from then on Pompey lacked any sort of quality in the final third.
Villa had deserved something from the game but in the end had to settle with a point - while Pompey, currently in seventh, can still hang on to the coat tails of a possible UEFA Cup place thanks to James.
Pompey boss Harry Redknapp enthused that his keeper could go on and play into his 40s. He said: "I was pleased for David - he is a fantastic keeper. He is the best in the business and could play for another four or five years.
"It was nice for him to get the record against his old club."
Villa's Phil Bardsley however admitted the Villa onslaught could have had a better outcome for the majority of the crowd of more than 31,000.
"If we had thrown any more players forward I think the pitch would have tipped up," he said.
Not that a single person in the stadium would have had to worry had that happened - not with the big safe hands of David James to catch everybody.
ASTON VILLA (4-4-2): Sorensen; Bouma; Laursen; Mellberg; Bardsley; (Young, 77) Barry; Petrov; Berger (Maloney, 79), Gardner; Agbonlahor; Carew (Moore, 74). Subs: Taylor, Hughes.
PORTSMOUTH (4-4-2): James; Stefanovic; Campbell; Lauren; Primus; Taylor; Hughes; Krancar; (G Johnson 83), O'Neill; Benjani (Mvuemba, 45) , Kanu (Lualua 77). Subs: Ashdown, Pamarot.
Referee: M Atkinson (Yorkshire).
Attendance: 31,745.
