Grabban That Spark – Bruce

Manager Steve Bruce has hailed the impact of January loanee Lewis Grabban as he gave Aston Villa the spark we’d sadly missed in the match against Preston North End in midweek.

Having trailed at the break as the visitors took the lead on Tuesday at Villa Park, positive substitutions from Steve Bruce saw Grabban enter the fray during the second period and not only did he score the penalty that gave us a point for our lack of efforts, he certainly gave us far more impetus in the final third and could’ve seen him open his assist account at the club as well.

Speaking to the Official Site as he met with the media following the salvaging of the one all draw, Grabban came in for particular praise from the gaffer.

‘I thought he gave us a bit of life. He gave us that spark. I was delighted with his contribution. He’s been itching to play and now he’s had his chance. It was a cool finish for the penalty but he brought a whole lot more to the game. He played really well, and Villa Park didn’t faze him, either.’

Bruce went on to say he thought fans would see exactly why he got so many goals for struggling Sunderland in the first half of the campaign and he felt he would be a ‘very decent acquisition’ for us in the second half of the year.

With ongoing creativity issues, even if Bruce doesn’t want to tinker with the formation and go to a more natural 442, put Scott Hogan in the hole but don’t expect him to be Jack Grealish, and let Grabban take the big man role from the start against Sheffield Wednesday this weekend and see if Hogan can really feed of his knockdowns and physical play if we aren’t going to give Callum O’Hare a shot and nobody returns from injury ahead of the game.

I’m sure we can each name our own choices of who (and possibly how many) can take a place on the bench this weekend.