Villa are ‘running on empty’

STEVE BRUCE admitted his Villa side were “running on empty” after he saw their winning run come to an end.

The Villans had won the last four games and looked set to make that five when Jonathan Kodjia (above, celebrating) grabbed his seventh goal in eight games, after only three minutes.

But former Villa trainee Lloyd Dyer rescued the home side to earn a valuable point for Nigel Clough’s side in their fight to stay up.

Villa boss Bruce was left to bemoan a below-par performance from his team.

“We have to admit that we were poor today,” Bruce said. “We lacked sharpness and some of them were running on empty. In my experience, that happens when you play two or three games quickly after an international break. It was frustrating, but Burton are good at what they do.

“It’s never easy to come here and we knew that, but, after getting off to a good start, we have to take care of the ball better than we did.” Bruce also emphasised the importance of Kodjia to his side and was disappointed to see his leading scorer depart before half-time through injury.

“He got a dead leg, but we don’t think it is too serious” Bruce said.

“We certainly missed him when he went off, he makes a huge difference to us. When you analyse the bad patch we had, it was when he was away. He’s on a great scoring run and we think he will be OK for next week.”

Kodjia capitalised on a poor pass from Ben Turner to race in and slot home to give Bruce’s side their early lead, but Albion began to dominate once the Ivory Coast international limped off after half an hour.

Dyer’s superb 61st-minute strike was just reward for Albion’s pressing and will help in their bid to avoid relegation.

Clough said: “I think we deserved a point after this week – Huddersfield away, Newcastle away and Villa at home. To get four points is a brilliant return for us in our position.” Possession Shots On Target Shots Off Target Blocked Shots Corners Fouls Conceded Offsides Yellow Cards Red Cards 49% 51% 1 3 4 4 2 4 8 3 9 8 1 1 3 1 0 0