Ciaran Clark has hailed his Aston Villa teammate Darren Bent for the way that he has dealt with his spell out of the starting lineup.

Despite his reputation as a clinical centre-forward, Bent has spent the majority of the season on the bench for Villa, whose manager Paul Lambert has preferred Christian Benteke and Gabriel Agbonlahor as a pairing.

However, rather than feeling sorry for himself, Clark has insisted that Bent has continued to have a positive attitude around the club.

"He has never changed and that's what you expect from Darren," Clark told reporters. "He has just got on with things, he is a good pro and a very experienced lad.

"He knows what he needs to do. He has kept his head up and it shows he must have been working hard in training to get back into the team.

"It just shows how professional he is in how he has kept going no matter how many downs he has had."

A number of reports have linked Bent with a transfer away from Villa Park during next month's transfer window.