The first half could not have gone much better for Aston Villa. The defense, led by Ron Vlaar has allowed pressure but has buckled down in front of the goal. Using opportunities started (often from Vlaar) there, and some excellent linking play from the midfield (especially Stephen Ireland), Villa have put together significant pressure on the counter.

It looked like Villa would go into the halftime break with a 0-0 score on their hands, but a last-second effort in stoppage time saw Christian Benteke take the ball up the left flank, muscle his way around the Manchester United defense, and send a ball to Andreas Weimann. Once the ball got there, Weimann rocketed a shot into the back of the net and gave Aston Villa a 1-0 halftime lead.

In case you missed the goal (and good lord it was pretty), here's some moving images of it to keep you happy:

and another view:

And because it made me smile, here is Weimann celebrating: