Following today’s clash between Derby County and Aston Villa, here are the instant reactions from both managers.
Derby County hosted Aston Villa at the iPro Stadium on Saturday December 16, taking all three points in a two nil victory on the day.
Former Aston Villa striker Andreas Weimann gave Derby the advantage in the 24th minute as he capitalised on a blind backpass from Glenn Whelan with Matej Vydra grabbing the assist.
Lacking a recognised striker in the starting line up, Villa managed only two efforts on target in the entire game, whereas the hosts had eight, and they secured the three points in stoppage time as Johnny Russell made it two.
The best chance for the visitors came at the start of the second half as Robert Snodgrass saw his effort cleared off the line.
Derby remain in fourth place in the Championship table and are only six points off second placed Cardiff with five wins in their last six games. Villa remain fifth despite the defeat but are now winless in the last three games and are only a point ahead of seventh placed Leeds United.
Teams:
Derby:
Carson, Baird, Keogh, Davies, Forsyth, Huddlestone, Ledley, Weimann (Russell 57), Johnson, Vydra (Thorne 86), Nugent (Martin 72).
Substitutes:
Wisdom, Pearce, Winnall, Mitchell.
Aston Villa:
Johnstone, Elmohamady, Chester, Jedinak, Taylor, Snodgrass, Whelan (Hogan 65), Hourihane, Adomah, Grealish, Onomah (Agbonlahor 83).
Substitutes:
de Laet, Steer, Bjarnason, Hutton, Elphick.
Speaking to the BBC’s cameras a short time after match day referee Lee Probert blew the final whistle, Derby manager Gary Rowett explained.
‘It’s probably the best start we’ve had all season. That was something we wanted to do – to physically try and pin them back early – and we had some good moments. With a little bit more composure at times we could have had more. In the second half we allowed Villa just a little bit too much control at times but for as much of the play they had, I don’t think Scott Carson has had a meaningful save to make. It’s another game where we can say we know we can play better but we’ve kept a clean sheet, defended brilliantly and it’s another excellent result.’
Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce in his comparative interview explained.
‘From the very first minute, we put them through and didn’t really recover. We made far too many mistakes and when we really analyse it we’ll look and think, for all that we huffed and puffed, we’ve gifted them the game. In a big game of this magnitude, the disappointing thing for me was the number of mistakes we made. We made so many it was scary and we made too many to win a football match. Second half, I was pleased with how we played. We had enough possession but not enough shots on target: we’ve had 12 or 13 attempts but only two on target.’
