Match Stats: Aston Villa v Fulham – We Blow It At Wembley

With hope in the air for the Championship Play-Off Final against Fulham today, it’s fair to say we didn’t quite get out of the blocks in the first half and found ourselves 1-0 down at the break.

Fulham had far more of the ball but didn’t really do much with it and our occasional forays forward fell down on the final ball. The best chance of the opening 45 minutes fell to Jack Grealish in a clever freekick routine but sadly he couldn’t restore parity or test the goalkeeper as he fired over high.

The only other notable comment for the first half was Anthony Taylor’s desire to not book a Fulham player given the challenges they were putting in, oh and give a penalty for a blatant push in the box.

So, to the second half and what was to be, became so.

A much brighter second 45 restored some hope and pride as Villa certainly made a much better game of it. The referee continued his incompetence and refused to give a penalty for a handball and then another push (albeit that one was soft), but at least we finally started showing what we were capable of instead of sitting off them and letting them play.

With chances falling to Jack in particular, we should’ve been level but hopes were boosted with the sending off of Denis Odoi for yet another foul on Grealish.

Down to ten men, they stayed organised and apart from a couple of moments we struggled to create much of note with the advantage we should’ve had but we did more dominate.

Unfortunately, and not for the first time, an amateurish and shoddy first half period cost us the greatest of prizes.

One of these days we might play for 90 minutes, and on that note, I’m off to drown my sorrows.