Today’s Second City Derby between Birmingham and Aston Villa created plenty of headlines for all the wrong reasons earlier today.
It was a typically tight game with both sides having good chances to win it, but as they wasted their efforts and Garry Monk cried about an ignored potential penalty (nice to see Monk actually see something in the game), Jack Grealish took his moment in the second half to score the winner.
🗣 "I love the derbies, and I'm not just saying that because I've done the double over Birmingham!"
Dean Smith reacts as we claim a HUGE three points.#PartOfThePride #AVFC pic.twitter.com/naM7KVos1x
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) March 10, 2019
Sweet justice following on from the fan who assaulted him and his disagreement with a steward.
Just look what it means, to players and fans alike…
Amazing scenes. 💜#PartOfThePride #AVFC pic.twitter.com/V8nrhFkYpz
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) March 10, 2019
Jack was the talking point following the game and head coach Dean Smith showered him with praise in his post-game press interviews and he told the BBC.
“Jack Grealish is a mature lad, and he responded well. There was only one way to answer that and that was to pop up with a winner like he did. I’m really proud of the way he handled it. He only came off as he was knackered, cramping up. It was a scrappy derby in difficult conditions but we were the better team in the second half and deserved to win. A lot has been made of the Birmingham City team spirit, but we showed a lot of spirit ourselves. Conditions were tough but we put in a gritty performance.”
A hard fought but deserved win and now we see what kind of fallout they get from the Football Association as plenty have already said they need to come down hard on that and questions need to be asked about the stewarding on the day as well.
As for Jack, his response to everyone that went on in the game was pretty succinct.
“One of the best days of my life.”
🗣 "It's been one of the best days of my life – captaining the club at St Andrew's and scoring the winner. Jumping into that away end was a dream come true."@JackGrealish1: Pure class! 👏#PartOfThePride #AVFC pic.twitter.com/8qExxByJlI
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) March 10, 2019
