Aston Villa News 24/7A much improved performance from Villa in a lively game led to a vital three points at home thanks to two goals from Darren Bent, and a goal for the provider of both those goals; man of the match Gabby Agbonlahor. Goals from Anthony Pilkington and Steve Morison bookended the home goals, and set up a nervous final ten minutes.
Norwich opened the scoring, slightly against the run of play at the time, thanks to a superbly hit free kick from outside the box by Anthony Pilkington. Shay Given had no chance; top corner it went.
Darren Bent made it 1-1 five minutes later after great work down the left by Gabby Agbonlahor, who squared across the face of goal and Bent did what he does best inside the six yard box.
Gabby made it 2-1 after his persistence chasing a lost cause paid off and a poor back pass by Leon Barnett set up the opportunity to get to the ball before Norwich keeper Ruddy. Gabby nicked the ball inside, off the charging keeper’s toes, before passing into an empty net.
Bent struck again just after the hour mark, fulfilling his promise that one goal will lead to more, finishing off another brilliant cross from Gabby, this time from the right.
Steve Morison jangled home nerves by making it 3-2 with 13 minutes to go, somewhat spoiling the debut of Jermaine Jenas, who came on for Emile Heskey, and the introduction of Stephen Ireland, replacing Stiliyan Petrov. Petrov headed straight down the tunnel, a hamstring injury being the early word.
It was a frantic closing ten minutes then, but in the end Norwich’s desperate attempts to get back level were resisted.
Timeline: Key Events
90′ Grant Holt.
77′ – Steve Morison.
77′ Aston Villa: Stiliyan Petrov off / Stephen Ireland on.
76′ Norwich: Wes Hoolahan off / Simeonn Jackson on.
75′ Anthony Pilkington.
67′ Aston Villa: Emile Heskey off / Jermaine Jenas on.
63′ Norwich: Elliott Bennett off / David Fox on.
62′ – Darren Bent finishes Gabby Agbonlahor’s superb cross from the right.
48′ Gabby Agbonlahor – capitalised on poor back pass.
45′ – Leon Barnett.
45′ – Andrew Crofts.
35′ Norwich: Bradley Johnson off / Andrew Crofts on. Injury.
34′ – Charles N’Zogbia.
33′ – Wes Hoolahan.
30′ Darren Bent – Great work from Gabby Agbonlahor down the left, fierce low cross across the face of goal, finished by Bent from six yards.
25′ Anthony Pilkington – Direct free kick from outside the box to the top corner.
Aston Villa: Given, Hutton, Dunne, Collins, Warnock, Petrov, Herd, N’Zogbia, Heskey, Agbonlahor, Bent. Subs: Guzan, Clark, Cuellar, Delph, Jenas, Ireland, Albrighton.
Norwich: Ruddy, Naughton, Barnett, Martin, Tierney, Bennett, Johnson, Pilkington, Hoolahan, Morison, Holt. Subs: Rudd, De Laet, Fox, Crofts, Surman, Jackson, Wilbraham.
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5 Comments to “Aston Villa 3 Norwich 2: Bent scores twice, MotM Gabby two assists and a goal himself”
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Good game, I thought.
Petrov ran his proverbials off, Gabby was ace, Bent looks sharp, especially for his first, Herd looked decent again.
All positives for me.
Fair play to Norwich, they took it to us and rightly so, as their defence looks worse than ours
A much needed 3 points and it’s now time to don the flak jackets, as it’s tough times ahead, methinks.
a few tough ones coming up, interspersed by a couple that ought to be “easier”.
we’re about to find out whether newcastle’s position in elevated from a kind fixture list or whether they’re the real deal; next three games: city, utd, chelsea.
Miscellaneous observations:
Those good crosses from the left have been missing since Downing left – good to see Agbonlahor successful in that role, whether its his best role or not.
If Bent were a step quicker, he might have had four goals today. I think he can be a step quicker.
Jenas was impressive – looked smart and cool on his first possession, almost set up a score. He also seems to be able to make the calm play when things start to get tense.
What a boost it would have been if N’Zogbia and Ireland could have combined to score on that late chance – they both desperately need something to establish confidence.
Total points dropped from a winning position today – 0! Yes!
Chris Herd our new James Milner/Gareth Barry?
He might develop into such a player, lets hope he does and that we can hold onto him. Villa have missed some real guts in the midfield since Milner left, and I can’t help but think Herd might step into that role nicely as Milner once did after Barry left
On keeping Herd, I think we have good prospects, Academy player, non-English (so his international Career is a lot less competitive for placements once est.)
Same goes for keeping Bannan, Clarke, and the other non-English Academy grads