Aston Villa secured their first win of 2017 as they overcame play-off hopefuls Derby County with a gritty 1-0 success at Villa Park.
Villa took the lead in the 25th minute courtesy of captain James Chester’s first goal for the club as he headed home from a messy corner which was poorly defended by Derby. Chester had earlier gone close to giving Villa the lead but was denied by an excellent save by Derby County keeper Scott Carson.
A delighted Steve Bruce told the Birmingham Mail: “It’s a relief for everybody concerned.
“It was always going to be something like that to get us up and running. It’s been a long time.
“We’ve got a result and that’s all that matters in times like these.”
18-year-old Andre Green also went close for the home side as he came close to bagging his first goal for the Villa when hitting the post in the second-half.
Steve McClaren’s side battled back after the break and went close to scoring an equaliser in the 75th minute when Darren Bent’s header was saved brillianty by Sam Johnstone.
Villa were able to hold on, to finally end a winless run of ten matches. The match was marred late on by Leandro Bacuna being sent off in stoppage-time for essentially headbutting the assistant linesman.
However, Bruce was delighted that his team were able to get over the line but Villa remain 17th but importantly are now eight points above the relegation zone.
Villa had been on a terrible run in the league taking just one point from 24 since a 2-1 win over Burton Albion on Boxing Day, but after suffering back-to-back home defeats this was an important result for Villa.
