ALEX McLeish has saluted Gabby Agbonlahor’s ‘if you can’t beat him, join him’ approach to partnering Darren Bent up front.

Bent became Villa’s main man when he embarked on a scoring streak following his record £18-24 million move from Sunderland in January.

It originally limited Agbonlahor’s chances in his favoured centre-forward role with the Brummie reverting to a wide position as the claret and blues often played with Bent as a lone striker.

But Agbonlahor’s scorching start to the campaign – his four goals have already eclipsed last season’s final tally – convinced McLeish to pair the two as a strike duo.

“Gabby was very understanding of Darren’s prowess and fully understood why we were still persevering with Bent through the middle,” said McLeish.

“You’ve got to hold your hand up to that. The guy had scored a lot of goals previously with Sunderland. But I’m glad Gabby has shown magnificent fight to get himself into this team because I know he loves Villa.

“I’ve got a gem on my hands if I can keep improving him. I heard Gabby added muscle last season. He’s a powerful beast with great feet. He’s a kid that can get even better.”

Despite initial fears about partnering the pair, McLeish sees no reason why Agbonlahor and Bent cannot become effective foils for each other.

“Can they play together? Definitely,” he said. “Benty’s role slightly changes when they are a partnership in that they try to dovetail each other and help each other when we are against the ball.