When Martin O’Neill brought Stiliyan Petrov to Villa Park for £6.5 million in August 2006, the supporters were expecting a dynamic, goalscoring attacker, and O’Neill was expecting the same. However, the qualities that the Bulgaria midfield player had displayed in Scotland, where he averaged a goal every four matches, did not translate into the Barclays Premier League. He scored only once last season, and that was against Derby County in April.

On Saturday, Petrov was voted man of the match as Aston Villa moved into third. Yet although his pass created Villa’s winner, he spent much of the second half breaking up Sunderland attacks. His transformation into a holding player, though, looks more the start of a new career rather than the end of an old one.

“You’re now starting to see something, albeit in a different position,” O’Neill said. “I still believe there’s a wee bit more to come from him - not that I expect him to get 12 goals a season from that position, because he’s the first one I look to to get back. But he has a great shot and once he gets a goal or two, you’ll see everything about his game.”

The farthest forward Petrov got on Saturday was when he pounced on a loose ball in the 33rd minute and crossed for John Carew to backheel the winner. Earlier, Steed Malbranque’s pass had allowed Djibril Cissé to put Sunderland ahead, but when Liam Miller conceded a needless free kick, Ashley Young curled the ball home to equalise.

“You have to get the right players in who are disciplined and don’t give these free kicks away, particularly against teams who are very, very strong at set pieces,” Roy Keane, the Sunderland manager, said. “It must be a good sign that we’re coming to Villa and feeling we can get something, but having that feeling is all well and good – it’s actually going and doing something about it.”

Aston Villa (4-4-2): B Friedel 5 – L Young 5, C Davies 6, M Laursen 7, N Shorey 5 (sub: J Milner, 70min 7) – N Reo-Coker 6, S Petrov 7, G Barry 6, A Young 7 – G Agbonlahor 6, J Carew 7 (sub: C Cuéllar, 90). Substitutes not used: B Guzan, M Harewood, Z Knight, M Salifou, C Gardner. Booked: Petrov. Next: Chelsea (a).

Sunderland (4-1-4-1): C Gordon 4 – P Chimbonda 6, A Ferdinand 5, D Collins 6, G McCartney 6 – D Whitehead 7 – S Malbranque 7, L Miller 4 (sub: A Reid, 60 7), K Richardson 6 (sub: A Stokes, 79), E-H Diouf (sub: D Murphy, 60 6) – D Cissé 6. Substitutes not used: M Fulop, M Chopra, D Healy, J Henderson. Booked: McCartney. Next: Arsenal (h).

Referee P Walton Attendance 38,706