Snodgrass grabs late winner as Blades are punished

STEVE BRUCE is developing quite a knack of causing misery for Sheffield football fans.

Bruce will forever be associated with scoring a late winning goal for Manchester United in ‘Fergie Time’ against Sheffield Wednesday in 1993.

Twenty-three years later Bruce was at it again when he broke Owls’ hearts with a Championship play-off final win at Wembley while in charge of Hull City.

And here, at the club where he began his managerial career in the late Nineties, he proved to be the chief tormentor of a side from the Steel City, with his Aston Villa side pinching arguably the most unjust of late victories.

Up until that gut-wrenching winner the hosts had looked more than good value for a point as they aimed to stay unbeaten in the calendar year.

Reputations, if you didn’t already know, count for precious little at Bramall Lane these days.

So far this season the Blades have struck an almost perfect balance between not disrespecting their opponents, but not rolling the red carpet out for them.

Erstwhile Premier League sides Sunderland and Hull were both comfortably dispatched on home soil whilst runaway leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers and in-form Derby County have also been put to the sword in S2.

Even having a European Cup proudly perched in your trophy cabinet, as Villa do, won’t win you too many plaudits in this neck of the woods.

These two sides have rarely crossed paths over the years since Villa’s halycon days reached the ultimate pinnacle during an evening in Rotterdam in 1982.

You have to go back to 1991 for the last time United enjoyed a league victory over the Midlands outfit.

In truth Wilder’s side could have been two goals to the good after a first half which they dominated, restricting Villa to not a single shot on goal.

The Blades set the tone early on with their typical high tempo game and incessant pressing and it nearly reaped a reward as soon as the fifth minute.

Defender Jack O’Connell thumped a header against the bar from a corner before Villa quickly cleared their lines.

The hosts were pushing forward at every given opportunity and peppering the Villa goal at a regular rate.

The division’s top scorer Leon Clarke and then home debutant Ryan Leonard both tested the reflexes of Sam Johnstone, of which the custodian was equal to.

Midway through the first half United full-back Sam Baldock almost capped a superb counter-attack only for Johnstone to pull off another save.

Villa had soaked up plenty of pressure in the first half-hour and gained more of a foothold as the half progressed, although £12m striker Scott Hogan still cut an isolated figure.

United weren’t on the back foot for long though and James Wilson almost scored a superb overhead kick just before the break only to see it whistle past the post.

Veteran Scotland international Alan Hutton sounded the first warning sign after the restart with Villa’s first shot on target although United stopper Simon Moore comfortably dealt with it.

Moments later Jack Grealish curled a delightful shot just wide of Moore’s left-hand post.

Momentum then shifted back to the hosts and after a spell of pressure with three successive corners, Baldock saw a shot tipped wide by Johnstone.

With the game entering its final quarter, Wilder shuffled his pack and brought on John Lundstram and Clayton Donaldson for Leonard and Wilson.

Donaldson was a constant menace during the previous meeting between these two just before Christmas, as he notched a brace at Villa Park.

But he couldn’t make any kind of impression on this game and instead it was Villa who ended the stronger – and ultimately it would be they who would end up with the victory.

Despite the game looking as though it was petering out into a stalemate, Robert Snodgrass showed a touch of Premier League quality to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and pinch all three points.

The Scotland international, on loan from West Ham, picked the ball up on the right flank, cut inside and curled a glorious shot beyond Moore that nestled in the far corner.

It was a cruel blow for the Blades but this season has shown that they will more likely than not bounce back – whoever the opposition.