TERRY WINS THE SECOND CITY TUSSLE
Win over bitter rivals, seventh victory in a row and jump into second lifts grieving Villa manager
ASTON VILLA pulled together for Steve Bruce and handed their grieving boss “a shaft of light” in his dark days.
Fine second-half goals from Albert Adomah and Conor Hourihane helped Villa to a seventh Championship win in a row.
The pair struck to punish a double miss from Birmingham striker Sam Gallagher before the break.
And it added up to a miserable afternoon for Villa’s rivals, who had Cheikh N’Doye sent off in stoppage time for a second booking after tangling with John Terry and Mile Jedinak. The win put Villa second and No.2 Colin Calderwood felt it gave a lift to an emotional Bruce (right) who recently lost his father Joe and has been caring for his ill mother.
Bruce skipped much of his side’s training during the week, and Calderwood said: “The gaffer was in Saturday and that was an introduction.
“Today he took it as a normal game and picked his team. He got about the players in his normal way pre-match.
“He was excellent at half-time and this is probably a shaft of light, a moment of happiness.
“But when you have that joy of the professional moment you must have some reflection of your personal circumstances. He is very family orientated. We have to do our job to make sure he doesn’t have any more stress.”
Villa went close to scoring when Scott Hogan hit the bar in the 17th minute. The forward, released by Jack Grealish, cut in from the left past two challenges before hitting a right-foot effort from the edge of the box.
Blues had to wait until the 29th minute to threaten when David Davis’ clever turn and shot was blocked for a corner.
Villa pressed again and keeper David Stockdale made a stop from Adomah after more good work by the impressive Grealish.
But Birmingham should have had the lead at the interval when Gallagher ran clear after a stumble by Terry.
His low effort hit a post and the forward then blazed the rebound over with the goal at his mercy in front of the Holte End. After the break, the Blues struggled to get out of their own half. Despite his side being on the backfoot, manager Steve Cotterill surprisingly waited until the 76th minute to make a change.
By then, Birmingham were trailing after Adomah gave Villa the lead after an hour with a shot which went in off a post after a pass by Grealish. And Villa secured all three points nine minutes from time with an outstanding goal from Hourihane.
He seized on a poor clearance by Harlee Dean and controlled it outside the box before unleashing a dipping screamer which looped over Stockdale.
Robert Snodgrass might have added
a third, but Marc Roberts also headed against the bar in stoppage time for the Blues.
Cotterill felt the noisy sellout crowd of nearly 41,233 was too much for some of his players. He said: “The game was a little too big for a few of our younger boys. It will be a good learning curve.”
ASTON VILLA: Johnstone 7, Elmohamady 7, Chester 7, Terry 7, Hutton 7, Snodgrass 7, Jedinak 7, Hourihane 8, Grealish 9 (Bjarnason 84), Adomah 8 (Whelan 89), Hogan 7 (Grabban 78, 6)
BIRMINGHAM: Stockdale 7, Jenkinson 6, Roberts 6, Dean 6 Booked, Colin 7, Maghoma 6 (Jota 76, 6 ), N’Doye 5, Kieftenbeld 6, Boga 6, Davis 6 (Adams 82), Gallagher 6.