Sunday 12th May 2019.
Yesterday saw Aston Villa stage a dominant comeback to defeat West Bromwich Albion by two goals to one. A rather one sided affair in terms of possession saw Glenn Whelan balloon an excellent John McGinn cross and Albert Adomah also going close. However it was West Brom who scored the opener when Dwight Gale seize upon a Glenn Whelan mistake to fire the baggies into a 1-0 lead on the 16th minute mark. Numerous chances for either team in the half however half time arrived and it was still 1-0.
We started where we left off in the second half with Villa producing the pick of the bunch in terms of chances when Whelan had a low shot blocked, Tammy Abraham put a near-post header just off target, Jack Grealish had a deflected curling effort saved low down and Anwar El Ghazi shot just over from an angle.
Villa boss Dean Smith turned to his bench on the 67th minute mark bringing on
Conor Hourihane for Glenn Whelan and Andre Green on for Albert Adomah. It turned out to be an excellent tactical choice when Jack Grealish found space in the box to tee up Hourihane who fired into the back of the net past the former Aston Villa stopper Sam Johnstone. 1-1 with 75 minutes played. It was only on the 79th minute that Jack Grealish was played through on the right flank and was fouled by Kieran Gibbs in the box resulting in a penalty for the home side. Tammy Abraham stepped up and slotted it past Johnstone and all of Villa’s persistence paid off. 2-1 to the home side.
West Brom could have also had a penalty when Tammy Abraham collided with Mason Holgate in the Aston Villa box. A very lenient decision from a referee who had already given a penalty in the game. A frustrating afternoon turned into a real worry for West Brom fans when Dwight Gayle, arguably their best player, was sent off for a second bookable offence when sliding for a loose ball in the Villa box and colliding with Villa keeper Jed Steer. Referee Graham Scott blew for full time and it was 2-1 to the Villans heading into next weeks second leg.
Aston Villa have to be strong favorites now to reach the playoff final at Wembley Stadium with a one goal advantage and with West Brom without their star striker. West Brom will not be counting themselves out of this one however as the championship top scorers will be confident of bagging themselves a couple of goals at The Hawthorns.
TBOS Man of the Match – Jack Grealish (1 Assist)
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