Aston Villa fans will be largely ignoring any negative elements from our Second City derby clash against Birmingham City as the only thing history will note was a comfortable 4-2 scoreline.
Although the visitors to Villa Park took the lead just ahead of the half-hour mark, Jonathan Kodjia soon had us back on level terms and Villa took the advantage ahead of the halftime restart as Jack Grealish netted a rare header. Tammy Abraham made it 3-1 from the penalty spot six minutes into the second half, and although Birmingham grabbed a second, Alan Hutton completed the scoring to make it four.
With plenty of positives to come from the affair, Jack’s effort was a great way to silence some of the stick he’s taken from some quarters in the buildup to the game, and speaking to Sky Sports following the game, his delight at getting the goal and helping us to the win was clear for all to see.
“Ever since I was a little kid at school, these were the games I dreamed of playing in and I am lucky enough to play in it. But to score just brings it to another level and it is probably the favourite moment of my career so far. I do not even think I have scored a header in my life, but Albert put a great ball in at the back stick and I could not miss really. When it went in I was over the moon.”
I’m not surprised to hear him say it was the ‘favourite moment’ of his career so far, he knows exactly what rides on this game and he made the most of it.
I also particularly liked the words of praise fellow Villa fan Dean Smith came in for as Jack’s game has kicked up a notch under him and there should be plenty more to come from the 23-year-old as given everyone knows his goal and assists return needs to be better, two goals and one assist in the last three should’ve skyrocketed his confidence.
