Aston Villa secured back-to-back wins in the Sky Bet Championship as Steve Bruce’s side overcame relegation-threatened Bristol City with a vital 2-0 victory at Villa Park.
1-0 victors over Derby County at the weekend, Villa moved up to 15th in the league table with Jonathan Kodjia and Conor Hourihane getting the goals.
Bruce told the Birmingham Mail:
It (successive wins) hasn’t happened very often so I’ve been told. It’s just at the right time. It’s an amazing game, football, because we’ve played far better than that and lost. But the one thing we have seen in the last couple of days is the resilience with two clean sheets and the one thing we need to find in the Championship is a resilience. I’ve been in it long enough to know that. You come up against Bristol City who are fighting for their lives. They’ve got some good players and they made it tough for you.
Lee Johnson’s side made it tough for Villa but Kodjia against his old club, opened the scoring in the 54th minute with an excellent header before January signing Conor Hourihane doubled the Villa Park outfit’s lead from close range in the 59th minute.
Bristol City, who held Championship leaders Newcastle United to a 2-2 draw at St James’ Park on Saturday are struggling to halt a declining run of form which has seen them lose 11 of their past 14 Championship matches.
Villa were far from the best in this contest but took their chances when they came to move them nine points clear of the relegation places.
Bruce’s side had been on a terrible run in the league prior to Saturday’s win against Derby, taking just one point from 24 since a 2-1 win over Burton Albion on Boxing Day with Bruce’s tenure under increasing pressure.
However, consecutive victories at home will help allay the concerns of fans, with Villa away to bottom of the league Rotherham on Saturday.
