Aston Villa's Robbie Keane steals the show on return to his alma mater

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<div class="track"><img alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.22.4/67750?ns=guardian&pageName=Aston+Villa%27s+Robbie+Keane+steals+the+show+on+return+to+his+alma+mater%3AArticle%3A1692803&ch=Football&c3=Guardian&c4=Premier+League+2011-12%2CWolverhampton+Wanderers+%28Football%29%2CAston+Villa+%28Football%29%2CPremier+League+%28Football%29%2CFootball%2CSport&c5=Unclassified%2CPremier+League&c6=Joe+Lovejoy&c7=12-Jan-22&c8=1692803&c9=Article&c10=Match+report&c11=Football&c13=&c25=&c30=content&h2=GU%2FFootball%2FPremier+League+2011-12" width="1" height="1" /></div><p class="standfirst">• Keane scores twice at the club where his career began<br />• Wolves drop into bottom three for first time this season</p><p>If you will forgive the $$$$$$$ising of one of Muhammad Ali's finest bon&nbsp;mots, Robbie Keane flits like a butterfly but still stings like a bee. The Irish rover never stays with one club long enough to lay claim to a permanent peg in the dressing room, let alone a testimonial, but after the 10th transfer of his nomadic career he remains a class act, as Wolverhampton Wanderers found to their cost.</p><p>Going back to his alma mater with his latest employers, Keane scored two spectacular goals, both from outside the penalty area, to prise victory from the maw of defeat. It was a remarkable performance from a player who, at 31, is in his prime, inviting the question why he was allowed to drift out of the Premier League and away to Tinseltown, from where he has returned only on loan. Playing "soccer" in the US must be a bit like a rugby player's lot in Italy. They do it, but not that well, and to minority interest. Excellence belongs elsewhere, and Keane ought to have another three years among the elite in this country before joining David Beckham and Thierry Henry in the elephants' graveyard that is Major League Soccer.</p><p>Alex McLeish is not universally popular among Villa supporters, partly due to his previous allegiance to Birmingham City, but he deserves full credit for acting decisively and signing Saturday's match-winner while others dithered over his fitness and the terms and length of a temporary deal. McLeish will now move heaven and earth to make the move permanent. Keane pointedly chose not to celebrate the goals against his old club, but if the happy wanderer carries on restricting himself like that, opportunities for jollification are going to be strictly limited.</p><p>The plight of the old gold thoroughbreds with whom he learned his trade is increasingly precarious, and he was wise not to rejoin them when Mick McCarthy offered him the chance. Wolves have dropped into the bottom three for the first time this season with a result that leaves them without a win in eight Premier League matches. In the first half they were much the better team after falling behind to Darren Bent's early penalty. McLeish had erred by dropping Stephen Warnock, Villa's regular left-back, in favour of a midfielder, Ciaran Clark, who was embarrassed by Michael Kightly's pacy, incisive wing play.</p><p>Kightly, 26 on Tuesday, was being tracked by Manchester United three years ago before twice suffering the same injury that terminated Owen Hargreaves's time at Old Trafford. Now back to something like his best, he tormented poor Clark, who was left for dead as Kightly equalised with his first goal in the Premier League. Wolves took a deserved lead with a close-range header by Dave Edwards, but spurned chances to settle the issue by half-time, and at the interval McLeish rectified his selection error by sending on Warnock, who nullified Kightly in the second half.</p><p>The Villa manager also had a few strong words to say, as a result of which his charges took over completely after the break. McCarthy claimed his team would not have lost but for the dismissal of Karl Henry, for stupidly kicking Marc Albrighton, and the facial injury that resulted in Emmanuel Frimpong being carried off on a stretcher. Be that as it may, the stage was set for the star of the show, who restored equality with a classy half-volley on the turn from 20 yards, then surpassed that gem with a screamer from further out that went in via the underside of the crossbar.</p><div class="related" style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><ul><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/premier-league-2011-12">Premier League 2011-12</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/wolves">Wolverhampton Wanderers</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/aston-villa">Aston Villa</a></li><li><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/premierleague">Premier League</a></li></ul></div><div class="author"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/joe-lovejoy">Joe Lovejoy</a></div><br/><div class="terms"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a> &copy; 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. 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