Aston Villa legend Peter Withe is convinced his old club are on the brink of a golden era.

Gabby Agbonlahor became the first Villan since Peter Withe in 1983 to celebrate a winning goal at Manchester United on Saturday.

His first-half strike ended a curse which started with Withe's double salvo in a 2-1 win.

Villa were League Champions two years earlier and won the European Cup in 1982 when Withe scored the only goal against Bayern Munich.

But just seven months after Villa beat Ron Atkinson's United, manager Tony Barton was sacked by Doug Ellis who had returned as chairman in 1982 as Villa's decline set in.

They were relegated three years later and did not win another trophy until 1994. And they are still without a major trophy since their Euro glory.

Now Withe, who lives in Perth, Australia, wants to see Martin O'Neill's team use Saturday's 1-0 victory to lift the club back among the elite.

He told The Sun: "We had a great team in the early 80s, I was playing alongside the likes of Gary Shaw, Tony Morley, Dennis Mortimer and Gordon Cowans, we were flying then and playing good football.

"And we had a manager in Tony Barton, now sadly not with us, who had taken over from Ron Saunders.

"Tony was different and a nice guy. But nice guys don't always get what they deserve, he tried to bring his own players in and it didn't work.

"People might say the team was broken up too early and there were a number of situations at the club.

"We beat United but Tony was sacked at the end of the season.

"After that, it was a while before Villa recovered and started winning things again. But I'd love to see Martin O'Neill's side kick on from this in the way Villa didn't in 1983.

"This result shows they are top-four material and will give hope to other teams that they can go to Old Trafford and win."