Leeds' young guns were taught a harsh lesson as goals from Gareth Southgate and George Boateng gave Aston Villa victory at Elland Road.
Despite the presence of Robbie Keane in the home dug-out, the visitors prevailed thanks chiefly to the trickery of David Ginola and some outstanding goalkeeping from David James.
Southgate broke the deadlock on the stroke of half-time before Boateng sealed the points late in the game.
Jonathan Woodgate reduced the deficit with a header in the dying seconds, but it was too late to save Leeds.
Flashes of brilliance from Ginola lit up an otherwise forgettable first half in Yorkshire.
His Villa career finally up and running, the Frenchman posed the Leeds defence plenty of problems with his vision and jinking runs.
He almost broke the deadlock after 17 minutes, beating four players as he cut in from the left flank.
The frenchman then dragged a shot inches wide of Paul Robinson's right-hand post.
Six minutes later, the former Spurs hero turned provider when Boateng almost converted his left-wing cross.
Ginola was at the heart of another sweet move by the visitors on 28 minutes.
He set Alan Wright free down the left with a clever pass.
Gilles de Bilde glanced his header wide of the far post from the resulting cross.
At the other end, Leeds rarely troubled James, who was making his 350th League appearance.
Marc Viduka had a couple of half-chances early on, heading wide from Gary Kelly's cross after 14 minutes.
But generally the home side struggled to put a decent move together.
The closest they came to scoring was on 19 minutes, when James dived bravely at the feet of Alan Smith.
The England under-21 international was attempting to get on the end of an inviting cross from Harry Kewell.
It was Southgate who provided the breakthrough in the end, although the Villa defender needed two bites of the cherry to force the ball home.
His first shot was blocked after Paul Merson's cross had eluded Alpay and Robinson at the near post.
But the ball looped invitingly up into the air and the England international made no mistake with a close-range header.
The second half was just as scrappy as the first.
Alpay was the first player into the referee's notebook, booked for lunging in on Viduka shortly after the restart.
After James had reacted smartly to claim a dangerous cross from Lee Bowyer, Leeds had claims for what looked like a legitimate penalty turned down on the hour mark.
Dominic Matteo's cross from the left touchline appeared to strike the outstretched arm of Steve Stone, but referee Mark Halsey waved play on.
Six minutes later, Keane was give his chance to rescue Leeds - and was immediately dumped on the turf.
Seconds after replacing Lucas Radebe, the Irishman had his legs whipped from under him by Boateng, who was promptly shown the yellow card.
James came to Villa's salvation on 73 minutes, parrying a fierce shot from Kewell.
Villa then came close to doubling their lead.
Substitute Darius Vassell forcing Robinson to tip his header over the bar from Wright's left-wing cross.
With time running out, James produced another fine stop to deny Keane.
Then, with the Leeds defence nowhere, Boateng went up the other end and scored after being set up by Merson.
Leeds grabbed a late consolation, with Woodgate finding the net with a header, but that is all it was.
Leeds: Robinson, Woodgate, Radebe, Ferdinand, Kelly, Bowyer, Bakke, Kewell, Matteo, Viduka, Smith. Subs: Martyn, Keane, Wilcox, Mills, Burns.
Aston Villa: James, Alpay, Southgate, Barry, Stone, Hendrie, Boateng, Ginola, Wright, Merson, De Bilde. Subs: Delaney, Staunton, Vassell, Samuel, Enckelman.
Referee: M Halsey (Welwyn Garden City)