Following today’s clash between Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers, here are the instant reactions from both managers.
Aston Villa hosted Wolverhampton Wanderers at Villa Park on Saturday March 10, with the hosts taking a comfortable four one derby day win.
The first half was a largely level affair and Albert Adomah opened the scoring after only eight minutes. Wolves were soon back on level terms though through Diogo Jota who equalised in the 20th minute.
Villa started the brighter in the second period and two goals in five minutes from James Chester and Lewis Grabban took the visitors apart leaving Birkir Bjarnason’s 85th fourth to inflict Nuno Espirito Santo’s heaviest defeat of the season.
The fat lady is far from singing when it comes to promotion however and Wolves still have a three point gap in top spot in the Championship over Cardiff and a seven point gap to Aston Villa in third, but it will now be a more nervy run in that Wolves would’ve once hoped.
Plenty of twists and turns remain in the coming matches as the season comes to a close.
Teams:
Aston Villa:
Johnstone, El Mohamady, Chester, Terry, Taylor, Jedinak, Snodgrass, Grealish, Hourihane (Lansbury 81), Adomah (Bjarnason 75), Grabban (Hogan 86).
Substitutes:
Bree, Onomah, Bunn, Davis.
Wolves:
Ruddy, Batth (Saiss 68), Coady, Boly, Doherty, N’Diaye, Neves, Douglas, Cavaleiro (Afobe 67), Bonatini, Jota (Costa 76).
Substitutes:
Bennett, Gibbs-White, Miranda, Norris.
Speaking to the BBC’s cameras a short time after match day referee David Coote blew the final whistle, Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce explained.
‘We played very well and we needed to against a decent team. It was a great advert for the Championship. There’s 10 games to go and we’ve given ourselves a chance. Wolves have got some very good players. How they got here, that’s another question that I don’t want to get involved with. But we’ve got some good players too. We’re a threat going forward and they all put a shift in defensively too. The only thing I demand from anyone who plays for me is that you have to put a shift in. I don’t mind a mistake. The key for me is to work hard and we worked as a team – but we have to keep doing that.’
Wolves head coach Nuno Espirito Santo in his comparative interview explained.
‘We made mistakes we should not do and they changed the game. I organise my thoughts and I try to analyse. We try to see what went wrong and get it right for the next game. We need the support of the fans at Molineux on Tuesday night (against Reading). There is pain for everyone right now and we need to bounce back.’
