Bruce lifted by Villa’s thrillers
VILLA handed boss Steve Bruce a much-needed lift as his side jumped into the automatic promotion slots for the first time this season.
Their seventh win on the spin came in a dreadful week for Bruce.
His father Joe died suddenly a few days ago and his mother is also very poorly. He took the team for the game but handed media duties to assistant Colin Calderwood.
Calderwood described it as “a shaft of light” for Bruce as he tries to cope with his personal turmoil.
Scare
It was a fairly routine victory in the end, though Villa did have to survive a scare just before half-time.
The game was goalless despite the home side’s domination when they suddenly switched off and so nearly paid the price.
John Terry’s slip allowed Sam Gallagher to race through on goal and the Brum man beat keeper Sam Johnstone only to see the ball strike the post.
As if that wasn’t enough, the ball came back across to him and he then blazed over from close-in.
Bruce would have used that scare to ram home the need to get the job done.
He didn’t have to wait long as Grealish set up the opener on the hour when he sent Albert Adomah away with a neat lay-off. Adomah made no mistake with a low shot which beat keeper David Stockdale a little easier than he’d have been happy with and flew in off the inside of the post.
Grealish, Adomah and Robert Snodgrass caused all sorts of problems for the Blues but Villa had to wait until the 81st minute when Conor Hourihane sent a dipping volley over Stockdale to clinch it.
Overall, this was quite sedate in terms of many Second City derbies and the only real flashpoint came right at the end when Cheikh Ndoye, booked earlier for a hack at Grealish, aimed a kick at Mile Jedinak.
Terry then became involved in a tussle with Ndoye before referee Peter Bankes produced a second yellow for the Birmingham midfielder.
Adomah said: “We have to try and chase Wolves and put pressure on them. We are still quite a distance from Wolves but our aim is to catch them.
“It’s been hard on the gaffer – he lost his father but hopefully this can put a smile on his face.”
Brum boss Steve Cotterill was left cursing Gallagher’s missed chance but admitted: “At the end of the day we weren’t quite good enough.”