Keith Andrews hit a shot from a little over 25 yards out on the hour mark that forced Brad Friedel’s only save of the match. It was a fine save, but still reasonably routine that you’d expect most goal keepers at this level to deal with with comfort. That was Blackburn’s only shot on target during the 90 minutes, but they somehow managed to head back up the M6 with three points.

In reality, Hoilett shouldn’t have required the good fortune of Richard Dunne directing the ball into his own net since he’d already gotten the beating of the defender and should have been nodding in himself. It was disappointing error by the Irishman, but it’s the nature of being a defender or goal keeper that mistakes often lead to goals. There’s no question that he’s had a brilliant first season with Villa and though he’ll probably chastise himself, it didn’t affect our final position.

Gabby, I think, said that the result reflected their inability to find an opener during the first half and had they done so it would have allowed them to push on for more. Although he talks about not having luck, he’s probably right, it’s another example of not turning dominance into goals, which has frequently been the case this season.

Other than that, I think the numbers below tell the story of the game admirably, I don’t think there’s much to dwell on. Luke Young came on in place of Stephen Warnock at the end of the first half, so I’ve used Luke in the average position map. If you’re interested, Warnock’s average position was almost identical, just slightly deeper.

To prove the level of dominance; 325 completed passes in this game, we’ve only strung together more in one game this season – 346 at Portsmouth last month. The 70% share of the total completed passes in the match is a record this season by some margin, the next best being 65% during the 0-0 draw at the Britannia Stadium.

These statistics, and Sam Allardyce’s obvious joy at beating us, just add to the evidence that more and more teams fear us and play extremely defensively against us. Additionally, the fact that we’re setting such records in the final game of the season makes it difficult to claim that the team are “tired”, although I would accept that I have to extend the argument of the opposition’s tactics have an influence to this too.

Still, those poor wee tired bodies managed to complete the second highest number of passes and the highest ratio in comparison to our opponent in the final day of the season, not the first.

Paul Robinson also had a pretty good day at the office. That is all.

0	Aston Villa	May 9th 2010	Blackburn	1
	65%	Possession %	35%
	18	Shots	11
	8	On Target	1
	11	Corners	5
	1	Offsides	3
		Scorers	84′ Dunne (OG)
Dunne, A Young		Booked	Dunn
		Sent Off
	325	Good Passes	138
	70%	CPS %	30%
	79	Bad Passes	65
	80%	Completion %	68%
	8	Interceptions	22
	37	Tackles Won	29
	24	Tackles Lost	25
	3	Blocks	4
	15	Free Kicks	15
Starting XI: 1. Friedel 24. Cuellar 25. Warnock 29. Collins 5. Dunne 19. Petrov 8. Milner 7. Young 6. Downing 11. Agbonlahor 10. Carew Subs: 22. Guzan 14. Delfouneso 4. Sidwell 20. Reo-Coker 2. Young 23. Beye 18. Heskey
Average Position Map

You can find Statshacks from other games here.

[Original data and graphics courtesy of ESPN and The Guardian]

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