Well how good does that feel?
With a couple of minutes to go, I’d got it in my head that the title for this post was going to read something like “Gutted, but better”, as I thought Villa were superb in the first half.
There was a lot more graft from the midfielders and more importantly we played with a much higher tempo, something I and probably many of us have been calling for, for most of the season.
When you consider Gabby could have had a hat trick in the first half hour and then Delph was unlucky when he hit the post, we really could have gone in at half time 4-0 up.
The performance really was that good.
In reality though, we were only 1-0 up at half time, where I was asking myself why we haven’t put that sort of effort in prior to this game? Particularly Gabby, who I’ve criticised a lot lately. Fair play to him though, he worked his proverbials off.
Likewise, Charles N’Zogbia, who was quite effective until he was subbed, no doubt down to a lack of match fitness.
Anyway, onto the second half and Albion, who previously looked pretty lacklustre, came out much more fired up, no doubt after some choice words from Tony Pulis. And we started to struggle somewhat; something that had me questioning if we might have a bit of a fitness problem? Indeed, Sherwood hinted that the players were possibly fatigued from the way they’ve been training.
And then came Albion, goal, where the defence were poor yet again, with Berahino allowed another free header. He wasn’t the only player not marked either, which was disappointing, given that Okore and Clark had handled Albion’s typical Pulis type tactics of the long ball up to the strikers pretty well.
One each then and things got quite worrying, with Albion possibly looking the more likely to nick it, to give us a repeat of the Stoke game.
And then in the very last minute, Foster, who had already looked very much the dodgy goalie, fumbled the ball and took out Lowton to earn us a penalty.
I was on the edge of my seat now and had a feeling Foster might save, given our recent bad luck, but Benteke, who also seemed to put a fair bit more work in tonight, very cooled trundled the ball into the net, after sending the goalie the wrong way.
Cue massive celebrations from the fans and myself, with the players joining in after the whistle.
Loads of bonuses today, for me. As Sherwood said, we’ve looked better in each game. The team worked their guts out and showed some fighting spirit. We beat an Albion side who have kept 5 clean sheets in their last 7. We played really well today. And most importantly, we’re out of the bottom three.
It actually feels great to be a Villa fan today and if we can keep that sort of performance up, you have to feel our chances of staying up are majorly improved.
Fair play to Ooh Ahh . Your positivity has done us all the world of good. I think Sherwood played it right tonight with team selection. I was a bit miffed at some in the team but hats off to him. I think Gil is being held back for the cup game and I really think we will whip them in that one. Pressure is off now but if we can win that and get a good draw we could end the season with a trip to Wembley for a cup final, secure our place in Premier League, gain a place in Europe and finally get bought by a rich Arab. Maybe just maybe the light at the end of the tunnel has just started to show itself again.
Agree Tekkers48. I think now we’ve got that win in the bag it will make a huge difference. I still fancy us for 37 points which should be just enough
Keep up the positivity oohah your even starting to convince me wasn’t gonna travel over this year to watch the villa (was over for Southampton match) think I will now though UTV
Lol no probs mate. We will not go down.
Oh the joy!!!!! What did I tell u Bill! Ye of little faith!
I bow to the intelligent fans bumbum, my faith has returned, well done my lovely football club.
Morning Bill – what a lovely day to be a Villa fan
Hitch it was a pleasure to show my grandkids the match this morning, they jumped up and ran around the house this is before they go to school, as you say oh joy to be a Villa fan, and you know what! To listen to a manager you can understand, he even explained as to why N,zog played, thought Gabby started to drop off but hey we won.
Let’s hope it carries on and is not a one off my head hurts sat is a bonus game let’s enjoy it lads
Got to agree Badger, first half I thought we played as well as we have do e for a long long time. What impressed me the most was the passion shown by the players and gaffer, something we haven’t seen for a while. Agree we should of been 4 up at half time and I wouldn’t blame it on poor finishing. I’ve never seen a team have that much bad luck.
Thought Hutton was very very lucky to stay on the pitch but full credit to the lads and the gaffer, they all pulled in the same direction tonight and we looked like something we haven’t for a long time, we looked a team.
Well chuffed…..now for Wembley.
Agree, B6, that looked very naughty from Hutton.
Sherwood said on F AND SAV that berahino was in the way lol. Classic
Sorry Oohah you got that wrong mate, Sherwood said he hadn’t seen it yet ,the person that said it was the one sitting next to Petrov.
Fair enough. New post gone up mate
Pleasing thing was we battled to the last second and made our own luck putting pressure on them.
Havent felt that good after a Villa game for a long time! I was really worried when I saw the line ups…especially with gabby and nzogbia, but they both had good games. Why does Gabby only play well in derbies? He had more shots tonight than he’s had since Xmas, and most of them he created for himself!
The midfield trio did well…although Westwood’s set pieces are a waste of time. Look at the quality of Albion’s deliveries compared to ours today. Delph was MOTM for me, really stepped up.
Back 4 looked solid, although Lowton’s lack of pace worries me! Great to see Grealish get some game time too, maybe he will start on Saturday?
Overall though, we deserved the win just from the first half and its about time we had some luck. Credit to the Albion for saving our season! ha
Good point about Ooah. He gets positive and we actually win a game.
Blimey, if he can stay positive, we might win the league next season! lol.
I forgot to mention some of the players.
All the mids were great, Gabby ran Lescott ragged.Benteke knocked some decent balls on for Gabby to actually run on to. Not too sure about Lowton at LB, tbh, but he got us the pen, so fair play. Grealish looks dangerous, too,
Good all round effort, imo.
Let’s have more of it please.
Lol we’re gonna win league
Great win tonight and thoroughly deserved. I’d just like to mention how well Lowton did for the penalty – watch the replay – he read Foster perfectly and moved unbelievably quick to nick it first. I thought he had another good game tonight and providing we can get a left back fit, I’m looking forward to seeing him get a couple of games in his preferred position. UTV!!!!
Even better was he busted a gut to get there in the first place and didn’t switch off when foster made error.
Oohah,I thought Clarke was outstanding last night how he didn’t get MOTM is beyond me.
Okore scares the shite of me at times, great bringing the ball forward but a little suspect under pressure and prone to an almighty gaff.
What’s your take on them?
True Jaymo. What I liked most was that it was the dying seconds of the game, but our left back was in their penalty area. I can’t remember the last time I saw such a positive performance from the team.
Villa had 16 attempts to Albions 3 and
Villa had 8 shots on target to Albions 1,
we also had more possession 58% to 42%
Of course the most vital statistic is 2 goals to Albions 1
We would have never seen those stats under Lambert this season, glad he’s gone. Sherwood has got the team playing better and as a team, and with this boost of confidence I believe we may just stay up. Funny how NZogbia played well, if he keeps that type of performance up we may just see him back from Wigan days. Amazing what a change in manager can do, for certain players and of course the fans.
Bring on the FA CUP!
AVFC!
dodgy hotel wifi in Malaga at the moment so just followed it on live text and a buddies txt updates! great result! i had put the phone down on 92 mins and was processing what the draw meant for us and what sort of game we had played – then Boom .. txt comes through .. penalty! .. just delighted with the result, Don’t want to think about anything else for now.
thats a couple of months in the making.
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssss great win and loving Timbos positivity .
So it wasn’t a dream after all! Villa finally showing some fight – I knew they had it in them.
So if we can keep playing like that and get something away against Sunderland and then at home against Swansea then all I can say is bring on United!
Pressure should be off on Saturday so I’m hoping we finally see something of the real Villa. Baggies beware!!!
UTV – ITWT (In Timbo We Trust)
Just woken up smiling too!!!!!! 🙂
If we can beat Sunderland that will drag them behind us and into the relegation scrap too. A very big game. Meanwhile hope QPR and Burnley lose their respective games against teams that should comfortably best them.
Really don’t want The Mackems to go down. Have a soft spot for them, but Villa come first obviously. And The Mackems are used to it!!!
Giddy mate – u and me never lost the faith. Welcome all to the positivitists. We will not be relegated UTV
Now back to nursing my headache!
Morning positivo yes I’m not going to tell you folks always keep the faith Ts is here to turn our fortunes around that’s for sure.looking forward to work today I’ll give um he’ll round 2 Saturday Wembley here we come.UTV
Morning H60 – we both got the 2-1 correct eh ?
First half we were fantastic, but then stepped off the gas a little (probably due to fitness) – does raise the question, with fitness, injuries and bullying, what the hell was going on in training under Lamberk.
Morning saddened – yep got one right for a change LOL lot of energy and emotion in first half which is hard to keep up through 90 mins. Really deserved to win the game. Should be quite an atmosphere Saturday UTV
Just looked at Burnley’s and QPR’s fixture list and I’m so glad we’re not them – especially QPR.
I’ll admit that I was one of the ‘we’re doomed’ brigade because I really thought it would at minimum, take a stick of dynamite to get the players out of their negative rut.
All I can say is that it looks like TS is going to be a ‘dynamite’ manager :-),
Have a look at Hulls
Its 2 degrees and a grey sky. My gas bill has just arrived. I have a shite job to do today. Probably drank a little too much last night. What a beautiful morning.
🙂
Is the game on TV Saturday? Might dig my 1981 replica top out!!!!
Yep BB1
New post gone up
It’s on the Beeb Bum Bum.
Cheers. Will get my ale ready!!! 🙂
Good move, I’ll be round about 4.
Great win but really need to follow it up with a win against Sunderland, really didn’t think we would score 2 goals against a pulis team so once they scored I felt it was over but thank god the players didn’t think that! And once we got to the last 10 mins I was sure it would stay a draw, can anyone remember the last time we won a game or even got a goal in the last 10 mins? I don’t think it’s happens this season anyway so credit to them for not giving up! A lot of people saying cleverly had a good game but I thought he was pretty shit again, just passing backwards and sideways like always and slowing play down way too much, there was one moment at 1-1 that summed him up completely, Bacuna made a run down the right behind the defebce and cleverly had the ball on the right but instead of hitting the ball into space in front of bacuna he turns around and passes back to the center back! Just not good enough! If we are winning no problem but at 1-1 where a win is a must that is just poor poor play, I would swap him for bacuna in the center as we already hav 2 safety 1st players in Westwood and delph so need a player willing to get forward and take risks. what does gil need to do to get some minutes I wonder? Does he not track back enough for sherwood I wonder? I think if played in behind the stickers with limited defending responsibility he could fit into this team.
What a game, best I’ve been down to in ages.
No stench of Lambert, the home team going for it like a home team should, Jesus we could have been 4-0 at half time, what a transformation but wtf was the ref playing at? I’ve never seen such a stone wall penalty and straight red than Foster on Gabby, if that had’ve been Rooney at Old Trafford Mr Moss would have give both all day long but hey ho it turned out alright in the end.
The futures bright!
The futures Claret & blue!
https://instagram.com/p/zzAvyKON6b/
http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideos/fan-cam/fan-cam-bentekes-winner-wba-villa-fan-watch-pitch-invader-video/?
Was that OOHA on the pitch????