goal Saturday to hand Aston Villa a 1-0 victory at West Ham and move the team over idle Manchester United and into third place in the Premier League. Neill deflected a cross from Villa winger James Milner over the head of Hammers goalkeeper Robert Green in the 78th minute at Upton Park. It was Villa's third league victory in a row, giving the team 34 points from 18 games, two more than defending champion United, which has two games in hand. Benni McCarthy scored two goals in manager Sam Allardyce's first match trying to save Blackburn from relegation with a 3-0 victory over Stoke. Strike partner Jason Roberts scored the other goal at Ewood Park as Blackburn ended its slump of 11 games without victory under Paul Ince with an emphatic victory over promoted Stoke. Although Blackburn remained in next-to-last place, Allardyce saw his team move within two points of Manchester City, which hosts last-place West Bromwich Albion on Sunday. The former Bolton and Newcastle manager has been out of a job for 11 months and landed the Blackburn role a day after Ince was fired on Tuesday. McCarthy gave Rovers a ninth-minute lead from the penalty spot after he had been brought down by Ibrahima Sonko. Roberts made it 2-0 in the 18th when Brett Emerton's cross came off a defender and landed at the striker's feet in front of goal. McCarthy added the third in the 27th after Roberts' initial shot had been blocked by goalkeeper Steve Simonsen, who was a late replacement just before kickoff for the injured Thomas Sorensen. Sunderland, which was in relegation trouble when Roy Keane quit two weeks ago, moved up to 12th after its second high-scoring victory, a 4-1 triumph at Hull. The victory, which came after a 4-0 win over West Brom, will add to speculation that Ricky Sbragia, who was one of the coaches under Keane, might be given the manager's job full time instead of on a temporary basis. Bolton scored twice in the first three minutes before edging Portsmouth 2-1. The traditional top four weren't in action Saturday. Wolves moved seven points clear at the top of the League Championship after a 1-0 victory at Doncaster. Reading snatched second place from Birmingham, where it won 3-1. FIFA lifts ban on Kuwait FIFA has lifted bans on the national associations of Peru, Samoa and Kuwait, soccer's world governing body said on Saturday. Peru and Kuwait were suspended for political interference, while Samoa was punished for mismanagement in October. “We are not the police but we have our statutes and we ask that they are correctly respected,” president Sepp Blatter said after FIFA's executive committee meeting. Inter 9 points clear Brazil defender Maicon scored twice as Inter Milan edged Siena 2-1 and extended its Serie A lead to nine points on Saturday. Maicon's winner in the 83rd minute was disputed, as Siena protested vehemently for offside. Maicon had given Inter the lead in the 34th before Houssine Kharja equalized just before halftime. Inter improved to 42 points. Juventus was second with 33 and Napoli and AC Milan was tied for third with 30 each. Siena was still hovering above the relegation zone with 19 points. Juventus visits Atalanta on Sunday, Napoli is at Torino and Milan hosts Udinese in the final Serie A round before a three-week holiday break. In Saturday's other match, Lazio beat Palermo 1
