Aston Villa 1 Brighton 0 – Post-mortem
It was flat. It was tense. Brighton’s visit to Villa Park certainly wasn’t one for the purists or season highlights.
But it was three points.
Aston Villa laboured past Brighton in a game that never quite caught light. Tempo was slow, rhythm inconsistent, and the usual midfield control absent. There were groans at over-elaboration and impatience at predictable build-up. As Brighton went man-to-man with Villa, for large spells it felt like two teams cancelling each other out rather than one asserting itself.
Then came the decisive moment.
A late corner, a near-post run, and Tyrone Mings making sure with Leon Bailey before he took the corner, to hit the near post. In a match short on incision, it took authority rather than invention to break it. Empty seats and the tension linked to the league table added to the unease of the night.
But the league table does not ask how.
Villa are still third and the Champions League conversation remains real. And at this stage of the campaign, winning without playing well can matter more than anything else.
Ugly at home. Effective when it counted.
UTV
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Credits:
David Michael – @myoldmansaid
Chris Budd – @BUDD_music