It was Villa who took the lead through Stewart Downing. The winger played a one-two with Ashley Young before turning on the edge of the area and sending in a shot that flew past Richard Kingson with the help of a deflection off Dekel Keinan.
Blackpool grabbed an equaliser on the stroke of half-time. A brilliant back-heel from Matt Phillips played in Marlon Harewood and the former Villa man calmly slotted past Brad Friedel and just inside the far post.
Villa regained their lead when Nathan Delfouneso seized on a precision pass from Ashley Young and tucked away his shot. Villa should have made the game safe with 10 minutes to go as Downing tore down the left flank before picking out the unmarked Marc Albrighton at the far post, but he shot into the ground and over the bar.
It looked like they would be made to regret that miss with three minutes left when, out of nothing, substitute DJ Campbell equalised with a shot from the edge of the box that caught Collins and looped up and over Friedel.
But less than two minutes later the Blackpool's fans were silenced as Collins squeezed his header just inside the post from Downing's corner, and this time there was to be no comeback from the visitors.
Source: PA
Source: PA