Aston Villa head coach Dean Smith took his first team squad to Nottingham Forest earlier this evening for our latest Championship clash.
Both sides know each other well after the last few years and the game took on a new flavour with former manager Martin O’Neill in their dugout.
Pleasingly it was another strong performance from Villa across the 90 minutes, as even though Forest were quick to the punch and took the lead three minutes into the tie, a John McGinn brace in opening 15 minutes soon had us in front and Kortney Hause opened his club account just after the hour mark to make it 3-1 on the evening.
Forest had chances but didn’t really threaten too much, but we could’ve easily extended our lead to make our former manager’s evening worse but another win and now only two points off the Play-Offs.
Speaking to the BBC following the fulltime whistle, Smith said of our efforts and the final result.
“It was a very professional performance. They had a fortunate goal that looked like a cross but we responded really. I brought John McGinn back in which was a tough decision because the midfield three have been doing really well. He was brilliant and deserved his two goals. He epitomises what we’re about as he’s a very good player but works so hard – the lads in the dressing room love him. I don’t want another false dawn so all we will be doing is concentrating on the next game which is Middlesbrough at home.”
