At The Halfway Stage Villa Leave West Brom Crying – Match Stats

Earlier this afternoon Aston Villa welcomed local rivals West Bromwich Albion to the Villa Park pitch for Saturday’s Play-Off Semi-Final first leg affair.

Hopes and optimism were high ahead of the game given the spectacular run of form we’ve been on in the second half of the 2018/19 campaign, and given a shot at promotion looked to be a stretch after our summer and first half to the year, the opportunity was ours to take.

Villa better dominated the tie in terms of possession and chances overall but Dwight Gayle made his chance in the 16th minute count to give them the 1-0 advantage. Second half substitute Conor Hourihane tied things up with 15 minutes remaining in the game with an absolute rifle of an effort and a quick penalty award for a foul on Jack Grealish saw Tammy Abraham step up to make it 2-1 four minutes later.

Things got better for Villa, although goalkeeper Jed Steer may disagree, as Dwight Gayle saw two yellows as he slid in and collided with our stopper and he now misses the second leg.

All eyes to Tuesday to complete the job.

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Aston Villa				West Bromwich Albion
Hourihane (75), Abraham (pen 19)				Gayle (16)
Steer				Johnstone
Elmohamady				Dawson			45
Tuanzebe				Bartley
Mings				Hegazi
Taylor				Holgate
Whelan			67	Brunt
Adomah			67	Johansen			85
McGinn				Gibbs
Grealish				Phillips			66
El Ghazi			91	Rodriguez
Abraham				Gayle
Substitutes
Hourihane			67	Morrison			85
Jedinak				Mears			45
Davis				Townsend
Green			67	Montero
Kodjia			91	Bond
Kalinic				Field
Hause				Murphy			66

Game Statistics
21	Goal attempts	5
6	On Target	2
10	Corners	4
3	Fouls	14
0	Yellow Cards	4
0	Red Cards	1
69	%	31