One half of Aston Villa’s squad headed to Kidderminster Harriers yesterday, with the other half heading to Telford United as we opened up our pre-season game schedule ahead of the 2018/19 Championship campaign.
Splitting the squads is nothing new in football these days and it’s something Steve Bruce has chosen to do previously to ensure as many players as possible push themselves by getting minutes under their belts. Bruce was at the Telford match to watch on, but he’ll have got a full report from Colin Calderwood who was in charge of this one.
The group that headed to Aggborough shared a 1-1 with the hosts, with our goal coming from youngster Harvey Knibbs.
That new away strip though… ????#AVFC #PartOfThePride pic.twitter.com/47TIGK3aCo
— Aston Villa FC (@AVFCOfficial) July 14, 2018
After the doom and gloom of this summer, a reasonable 1-1 ticks the box as at this stage results do not matter and it’s all about fitness and avoiding injuries. Compared to the Telford match, Kidderminster saw a few more youngsters on show as well – especially a few with relatively less experience – so even though they couldn’t push on at the death to get the win, the run out alone would’ve done them the world of good and Gary Gardner did hit the woodwork as well which would probably have been enough to secure a second victory on the day.
Villa:
Bunn, Taylor (Vassilev 83), Elphick, Suliman, Hutton (Ramsey 76), Gardner (Brunt 76), Lansbury (Walker 76), Clarke, Adomah (Prosser 67), Grealish (Cox 67), Knibbs (McConnachie 83).
Subs:
Odutayo, Pressley, Patterson, Sinisalo.
Goals – Knibbs (9).
Grealish looks delighted.
— Seán Ó'Laoire (@SeanOLaoire77) July 14, 2018
Well done Andre/Jimmy, both looked bang on it today
— Matt Shelley (@mattshelley__) July 14, 2018
On a winning track, keep up the pace!
— Robert Larsson (@robstar72) July 14, 2018
