Lansbury is the fall guy as Toon go back to top
THE goals may have been ugly but for Newcastle fans there was beauty in the sight of aston Villa’s Henri Lansbury scoring the own goal which helped send them back to the top of the Championship.
For Villa boss steve Bruce, however, it was all ‘ hideous’. Indeed, his side have taken one point from 24 and are now just six clear of the relegation zone.
and a weary Bruce admitted dropping into League One is a real danger. ‘In the situation we are in, you have to accept that,’ he said. ‘I’m confident that we won’t (go down) but I’ve never been in a run like this.
‘If that (own goal) doesn’t sum us up . . . it’s hideous.’
Lansbury, who joined Villa from Nottingham Forest last month, was involved in the controversial dismissals of Jonjo shelvey and Paul Dummett in Newcastle’s 2-1 defeat at the City Ground in December, when he was accused of ‘acting’ by Toon boss Rafa Benitez.
so, when Lansbury put through his own net just before the hour mark, it proved a sweet moment for the home crowd, who mocked the pantomime villain with a chorus of ‘There’s only one Henri Lansbury’.
Benitez chose not to crow over the identity of Villa’s fall guy and instead conceded his team had been far from fluent during a stuttering first half in which Yoan Gouffran opened the scoring against the run of play.
The hosts had the luxury of recalling the division’s top scorer in Dwight Gayle — back from a five-week hamstring injury lay-off — but the 20-goal striker limped off on 35 minutes clutching that same muscle in a development that could have serious implications for Newcastle’s promotion aspirations.
They had hardly fared very well with Gayle on the pitch, however. In fact, Gouffran’s goal on 42 minutes was their first effort on goal.
Of Gayle’s injury, Benitez said: ‘Dwight’s partner had a baby last week and some days he was not sleeping. Maybe putting everything together he wasn’t that comfortable from the start. It’s the same problem. He’ll miss some games but hopefully it’s not too bad.’
Newcastle’s breakthrough came as a surprise after their slow start and owed a lot to good fortune, Gouffran poking home after a scramble.
By the hour mark it was 2-0. Lansbury got himself in a muddle when guarding a post and, after Jamaal Lascelles’s stab from shelvey’s corner had hit the upright, the ball rebounded off the heel of the Villa midfielder and rolled over the line.
Villa’s defeat makes it a pitiful two points for them since Boxing Day. But such is Newcastle’s loathing of Lansbury that former sunderland boss Bruce escaped relatively unscathed when it came to terrace vitriol.
He, though, has far bigger things to worry about and the loss of £15million striker scott Hogan to a serious ankle injury added to his woes.
‘It was a disappointing night made worse by the injury, which doesn’t look good. That could be huge for us,’ Bruce sighed.
It was that kind of night.