Aston Villa 3 - 1 Cardiff City. Match Reports

[Michael Morris]

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/spor...city-12234626?

Aston Villa continued to make Villa Park a fortress with a battling 3-1 win over Cardiff City.

Neil Warnock’s Bluebirds were the victims of Villa’s dynamic duo, Albert Adomah and Jonathan Kodjia, who both scored either side of Rickie Lambert’s first-half equaliser.

Rudy Gestede notched a late penalty to make sure of the points and extend Steve Bruce’s brilliant start at B6 to seven matches unbeaten.

The first chance of the match arrived through main man Kodjia. The Ivorian striker latched onto a long ball from Nathan Baker and outmuscled Bluebirds skipper Sean Morrison before seeing his deflected effort drop just wide of the post.

Villa began to assert their authority on proceedings midway through the half and duly took the lead through Adomah.

The Ghanaian winger, who has been in fine form since Steve Bruce took charge last month, slotted home after good work from the two Jordans, Ayew and Amavi, down the left wing.

But Villa’s joy was shortlived. Cardiff levelled matters through former West Brom striker Rickie Lambert in the 28th minute. He calmly slotted past Pierluigi Gollini and, judging by his celebration, clearly enjoyed notching his third goal of the season.

It seemed like any meaningful attack produced by either side in the first half resulted in a goal and Villa’s second duly arrived six minutes before the break.

After a prolonged period of possession, star man Jonathan Kodjia received the ball and crossed to the far post where he found partner-in-crime Adomah. The winger toyed with the defender momentarily before hanging the ball up to the back post to find who? You guessed it, Kodjia.

The striker climbed highest to head home and restore Villa’s lead before breaking into what is becoming a familiar dart to the corner flag in celebration.

A suspected injury forced the departure of defender Baker at half-time. Club captain Tommy Elphick replaced him in the heart of the defence.

Gabby Agbonlahor replaced Ayew in the 63rd minute and managed to get himself into the referee’s notebook for taking his protestations too far after Jack Grealish went down inside the penalty area.

The striker was warned by the referee a few moments later after making further protests after one of his teammates was fouled.

Outstanding play from Kodjia - now operating out wide - led to Albert Adomah almost increasing Villa’s lead with 20 minutes to go.

The Championship’s record signing-in-waiting Kodjia bamboozled two Cardiff players before firing a wild shot towards goal.

Adomah connected with the effort as it headed wide and planted it just wide of the post.

In a bid to kill the game, Bruce made his third change with Rudy Gestede replacing Albert Adomah meaning Villa now had three natural strikers across their forward line.

The moment Agbonlahor would have been dreaming about arrived with 11 minutes to go. Grealish stylishly played him through down the right channel, but the striker couldn’t quite lift the ball over the advancing Ben Amos with the goal gaping.

There was a frosty reception from the Holte End when Kieran Richardson replaced Joe Ralls for the Bluebirds.

Richardson was part of the team that was relegated from the Premier League last season before being released in the summer.

Cardiff could have grabbed a late leveller through substitute Frederic Gounongbe, but the forward’s header was straight at Gollini - either side of the Italian and it would have been in.

The side from South Wales were reduced to 10 men in the 84th minute after Lee Peltier received a second yellow card for as poor challenge on Grealish.

Kodjia immediately took advantage of his marker’s dismissal and advanced into the box before firing over the bar.

Villa did add a third in the final minute of normal time through a Rudy Gestede penalty.

Grealish was brought down by Cardiff skipper Morrison and Kodjia allowed Gestede to take the spot kick and grab his first goal since September.

Teams

Villa (4-2-3-1): Gollini; Hutton, Chester, Baker (Elphick, 46), Amavi; Jedinak, Westwood; Adomah, Grealish, Ayew (Agbonlahor, 63); Kodjia

Cardiff (4-4-2): Amos; Peltier, Morrison, Bamba, Bennett; Gunnarsson, Whittingham, Ralls (Richardson, 81), Pilkington (Noone, 73); Lambert (Gounongbe, 73), Hoilett

Analysis

Steve Bruce got his tactics bang one, once again. The manager introduced two strikers, Agbonlahor and Gestede, in a bid to kill the game late on.

Crowd watch

31,484 fans made themselves heard. The good times seem to be on their way back under Steve Bruce and the attendances are only going to get bigger in the coming months.

Bigger picture

Villa’s third home win in four attempts under Bruce was a gritty one to say the least. They didn’t hit the heights they didn’t hit the heights they did at Brighton, but they got the job done.

If they keep grinding out the wins, they will continue to climb the Championship table.

[Michael Morris]

http://www.expressandstar.com/sport/...ity-1-report/?

Aston Villa continued their recent revival under Steve Bruce with an impressive 3-1 Sky Bet Championship win over Cardiff at Villa Park.

Jonathan Kodjia headed home for his seventh goal of the season to restore Villa's lead six minutes before half-time after Rickie Lambert had cancelled out Albert Adomah's opener.

Cardiff were reduced to 10 men in the 84th minute when Lee Peltier was sent off, and the hosts made sure of the points in the final minute when substitute Rudy Gestede converted a penalty after Jack Grealish had been brought down.

The result stretched Villa's unbeaten run to six games, and meant they remained the only team in the Championship with an unbeaten home record.

Kodjia looked lively from the start, jinking his way into an opening before firing just wide of the far post.

Grealish took a long time to make any real impact against the visitors, who also looked in determined mood after a morale-boosting win over Huddersfield, but the youngster was instrumental in Villa taking the lead in the 24th minute.

He put Jordon Amavi in possession midway in Cardiff's half. The chance appeared to have gone as he hesitated when in position to shoot, but Cardiff failed to close down the defender and he managed to square a low pass across the face of goal for the unmarked Adomah to fire past Ben Amos.

Cardiff, who have not kept a clean sheet since the opening day of the season, were far from discouraged by this setback, though. They immediately hit back with Junior Hoilett setting up the cross which led to Lambert hammering his effort past the helpless Pierluigi Gollini.

With honours again even it continued to be a tense battle. Villa became a little frustrated but that all disappeared when Kodjia, who had previously been closely shackled by Sean Morrison, was on hand to head the home team back into the lead.

Adomah had one shot blocked but, from the rebound, cleverly lobbed the ball back across goal for Kodjia to rise high to head home from close range to demonstrate his danger.

Cardiff then came under increasing pressure but they demonstrated they could be a threat. Hoilett in particular made effective use of the space down the right to provide a good service for the likes of Lambert.

Villa were pegged back in the second period when their former player Peter Whittingham produced some telling passes to put the home defence under strong pressure.

The response from Villa was to send on Gabby Agbonlahor, who two minutes later picked up a yellow card for dissent in what was a rare raid on the Cardiff defence when Grealish unsuccessfully appealed for a penalty.

Grealish eventually won his spot-kick after being fouled by Whittingham in the 88th minute, however, and the penalty was converted by Gestede.

Club skipper Tommy Elphick was drafted in for the injured Nathan Baker at the interval and this enforced change appeared to unsettle the home side as they struggled to gain the kind of control they enjoyed in the first period.

Villa were fully stretched at this point and Morrison went close to an equaliser when his header from a free-kick flashed just over the bar.