VILLA LATE SHOW
Grealish the inspiration in comeback win
IF Jack Grealish was genuinely disappointed that his move to Tottenham didn’t materialise in the last knockings of the transfer window, it didn’t show here.
The Villa faithful showed their favourite son no resentment, noisily cheering the midfielder when his name was announced, when he jogged in after his warm-up and every time he made something happen during a gripping game.
Grealish may have flirted with the prospect of playing Champions League and Premier League football i n north London but Villa refused t o budge, l eaving t he 22-year-old with little option but to knuckle down and get on with it.
That he did with his hair flopping about and socks rolled down to invite a barrage of kicks from Wigan boots. ‘Today was the reason the Premier League wants to buy him,’ said Steve Bruce, Villa’s manager. ‘You’d pay good money to come and watch him because he’s such a natural footballer.
‘He ran his socks off today after a difficult time. But the referees need to protect him; it’s a free- for- all, they’re kicking lumps out of the kid.’
Perhaps Wigan’ s aggressive approach restricted Grealish’s influence, because the defining moments of this game unfolded without him. It was John McGinn, the Scotland international signed from Hibernian last week, who was the most eye-catching in the Villa midfield as they won their first two games of the season for the first time since the John Gregory era.
Grealish did win the free-kick that McGinn delivered on to the head of James Chester t o give Villa a 13th-minute lead. But Nick Powell was gifted an equaliser just before half-time and the Latics led when Callum Connolly headed home Pow- ell’s superb cross just after the break. Villa’s fortune rebalanced when Chey Dunkley deflected a McGinn corner into his own net for 2-2, and after four minutes of injurytime substitute Conor Hourihane whipped one final cross into the Wigan box and there was Birkir Bjarnason, gambling on reaching it at the back post, to win it for Villa.
‘A draw would have been a positive result and I’m hugely disappointed,’ said Wigan boss Paul Cook. ‘But disappointment will drive you on.’
Just ask Jack Grealish.