BRUCE: WE WON’T GIVE UP CHASE...
Villa fall further behind in race for top two place
STEVE Bruce has refused to give up hope of automatic promotion and has challenged his players to win six of their final seven games to give Cardiff a run for their money.
But the Aston Villa boss admits a spot in the top two is a tall order following a disappointing stalemate against a plucky Hull City outfit at the KCOM Stadium.
The visitors were in command for large spells in the first half but, worryingly for Bruce, failed to genuinely test Allan McGregor in the City net.
“You can never say never,” said the former Hull manager. “We need to win six of our final seven games if we are to have a chance. We are capable of that and I back the players to do it but of course it’s going to be tough now.
“If we are brutally honest about this game, we didn’t do enough and that’s disappointing at this stage of the season. These are all big games now.
“We had a lot of attacking players on the pitch but for whatever reason could not create enough chances with the firepower we had. We gave the ball away too many times and I have to be disappointed with that.
“We were great in the first half. We were bright, lively and I was really pleased with the performance. We couldn’t build on that in the second half.
“While the challenge is to win nearly all our remaining games and hope others slip up, we must also be wary there is work to do to make the play-offs. They are not a guarantee and there’s a lot to play for.
“Cardiff have been on a terrific run but we can’t give up on top two just yet. We need them to slip up somewhere and, for us, we just have to keep working at it.
“We know in this league how a couple of wins can change the way things look quickly.
“What we do know is we have to improve on that second-half performance.”
Former Hull favourite Robert Snodgrass was a menace early on and almost unlocked the door in the seventh minute. After twist-
ing and turning on the edge of the box the winger’s teasing delivery was somehow skied over the bar from close range by Albert Adomah.
For Villa’s dominance of the ball in the opening half, City enjoyed brief spells of pressure too and Jackson Irvine was unfortunate to see his 20-yard effort fly wide following neat build-up play.
The Tigers raced out of the blocks after the break and Villa custodian Sam Johnstone had to be at his best to parry Angus MacDonald’s strike to safety on 50 minutes.
The hosts continued to push forward and substitute Jon Toral almost opened the scoring when he fired over the bar after finding himself a pocket of space in the box.
Both teams looked dangerous in the final few moments and Hull skipper Michael Dawson was in the right place at the right time to overhead kick a clearance from underneath his own crossbar.
City boss Nigel Adkins was delighted with a point in their fight for survival. “We could have won it, that’s for sure,” he said.
“But when you’re playing a side as good as Aston Villa, we take the point and I have to be pleased with that. I thought our performance was really good – especially in the second half when we were the only team on the front foot.
“We are aware our conversion rate in front of goal isn’t the best but we have to look at the positives and the good thing is we continue to create chances against good sides.
“Everyone played their part in this result and lots of players were good – Michael Dawson was fantastic and led by example.”
Adkins added: “All we can do now is focus on ourselves. There is no point in worrying about other sides and what they’re doing. We know we need to pick up at least another couple of wins and draws to stay in this division and we need to keep working hard to achieve that.”