Villa player ratings: Birmingham (A)

Villa walked away from St. Andrews with what could be a valuable point as they drew 0-0 with local rivals Birmingham City.

The first half, if we’re being honest, was one that was devoid of much quality, and the closest that we came to a goal at either end was when a Sam Johnstone clearance cannoned off Isaac Vassell and missed the goal by mere inches.

Birmingham started the second-half the brighter of the two teams, and they really should have taken the lead when Conor Hourihane played a blind back pass which fell to Jota, but he could only shoot the ball over the bar when one-on-one with Johnstone.

Birmingham were on the front foot, so Bruce made a couple of changes, which altered the game in Villa’s favour. Keinan Davis came on and within minutes, he had struck the crossbar with a fierce strike. Just minutes later, after some neat work in the box, Kodjia also struck the bar with a rasping shot.

Both teams tried hard to find the goal that would gift them all three points, but neither could find it and the hard-fought derby finished in a stalemate. Probably a fair result in the end.

Here are our player ratings for this afternoon’s game against Birmingham.