English Premier League – Full time review: Aston Villa 2-1 versus West Bromwich Albion
The match began with West Bromwich Albion on the front foot as they almost took the lead within the first two minutes of the match. West Brom surprised Villa as they adopted an attacking strategy and surged forward in an attempt to catch the home side unaware.
In the 2nd minute of the match, West Brom were awarded their first corner of the match, which fell to Collins, the Villa defender failed to effectively clear his line as the opposing players screamed for a hand ball. However, the referee waved
away their protest as the ball fell to Tchoyi. The African midfielder let loose a brilliant shot but unfortunately that shot fell straight to Brad Friedel who held onto the effort. This early chance was a wakeup call for Villa who were knocked back into their
senses through Freidel’s save.
In the 25th minute of the match, the home side came back into the encounter with a brilliant move. It was Marc Albrighton who surged down the right hand side for Villa. The young Englishman crossed the ball into the West Bromwich penalty area
with the Baggies defence all over the place, Stewart Downing sneaked in on the far post and tapped the ball into the back of the net to make it 1-0 to Aston Villa. It was a well executed move by the home side, who took the lead against the run of play.
Villa gained confidence from the goal and almost added another one in the 36th minute of the match. It was Emile Heskey who gathered in a fast paced through ball inside the West Bromwich penalty area. The English striker worked space for himself
but his eventual shot was blocked by a swarm of West Brom’s defenders as the ball went out of play for an Aston Villa corner kick. The half time thus came to an end with Villa leading by one goal to nil.
The second half kicked off with Villa in the ascendency yet again as this time in the 53rd minute of the match, Villa surged forward in attack but their offensive midfielder, Ashley Young was caught in West Bromwich’s offside trap as the referee
awarded a free kick to the Baggies.
It was a frustrating moment for the home side who looked through on goal with Young upfront. In the 55th minute of the match, Stewart Downing whipped in a glorious ball from the left hand side of attack for Villa, the ball found Marc Albrighton
on the far post but the Englishman’s diving header was wide of the mark as Villa failed to add to their lead.
In the 57th minute of the match, West Brom came close to finding their equalizing goal as Scharner embarked on a forward run and then passed the ball to Fortune who cut the ball back to Jara. The midfielder let loose a fantastically struck volley
but the ball flew over the far post of the Aston Villa goal. Nonetheless, it was a fine effort by Jara. In the 60th minute, Jerome Thomas was booked by the referee for a late challenge on Ashley Young.
In the 62nd minute, it was Jara who followed his team mate into the referee’s book as he also fouled Ashley Young. In the 73rd minute, Villa made their first change of the match as Barry Bannan came off for Nigel Reo Coker. In the 80th
minute of the match, Villa got their second goal as Emile Heskey headed in a perfectly weighted cross from Marc Albrighton. It was a good cross by the youngster who was Aston Villa’s man of the match.
Just before the fulltime whistle, West Bromwich Albion got their consolation goal as Scharner headed Brunt’s cross into the back of the net. However, at the end, the match came to a conclusion with the score line at 2-1.
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