TAMMY’S A KILLER FOR VILLA
Smith and Terry enjoy a winning return
YOU GOT the impression Aston Villa’s 1- 0 victory over Swansea meant a lot to Dean Smith. His emphatic punch of the air at full-time told you as much.
Installed as head coach of his boyhood club, it was a victory to savour for the 47-year-old who used to clean the seats at Villa Park before taking his place in the Holte End.
Flanked by fans’ favourite John Terry, returning to t he club as assistant coach and receiving a rousing reception from the Holte End, it felt like a monumental day for this football club.
Extenuating circumstances only added to the sense of occasion.
This was the first opportunity the club has had to celebrate the life of former chairman Sir Doug Ellis and there was an array of club legends in attendance. There was also the small matter of a first full house at Villa Park of the season.
It was fitting that on a day beginning with the loss of one of the club’s great visionaries, a new bold era was being cheered by its end.
‘I thought it was going to be a real emotional time but there was that many ex players on the sidelines giving me hugs I didn’t get the chance to!’ said Smith.
‘It’s one of the biggest crowds today, I think that includes the Premier League and I think it shows what can happen at this football club if we have a plan to move forward.’
Move forward they did. Villa carried out wave after wave of attack, with Tammy Abraham firing the only goal after just eight minutes. A Jay Fulton foul on Abraham provided Jack Grealish with first opportunity to test Kristoffer Nordfeldt but he failed to get the ball over the wall.
His next touch a matter of seconds later, though, was considerably more telling. The danger not fully cleared, the 23-year-old found Ahmed Elmohamady with a throughball as the Swansea defence failed to step out, and the Egyptian’s looping cross was nodded home by the Chelsea loanee for his fourth goal of the campaign.
He could have had several more, missing to gilt-edged chances in the second half to put the game to bed.
Still, Smith knows he has a talent on his hands capable of firing his side up the Championship table.
‘ He’s a handful, and he’ll know better than me that he should be walking a way with the match ball tonight,’ he said. ‘But he scored the winning goal, he’s a hell of a talent.’ By the end Villa were hanging on. Orjan Nyland was forced into action on several occasions in the second half. But they clung on for just their second clean sheet of the season.
What role Terry played in that is open to debate, but he could be seen before kick-off taking an individual session on the pitch with the back four. When asked what had pleased him most about the win, Smith said: ‘The grit. The player’s desire to keep the ball out of the back of the net.’
For Swansea it’s now one win in seven. ‘Psychologically, when you go down after eight minutes in this e n v i r o n ment i t ’s a c h a l l e n g e , ’ admitted their coach Graham Potter.