Aston Villa opened what MON is describing as the most important week of his Villa tenure with a vital three points, thumping hapless Burnley 5-2 at Villa Park, but it didn’t look like it was heading that way at half time.

Burnley opened the scoring in a scrappy early period after carving the Premiership’s meanest defense wide open with some slide rule passing that culminated with Steven Fletcher receiving the ball with an unmissable chance at the back stick. That goal seemed to knock Villa off their stride and although they weren’t exactly running the game before, they were certainly the better side.

Eventually, more through persistence and some good fortune than anything, Ashley Young evened the score just after the half hour mark with a speculative shot from the left corner of the box following a short corner routine with James Milner. The ball travelled through the crowd and may have taken a slight nick on the way, but Brian Jensen didn’t get sight of it until it was too late.

The final 15 minutes of the half played out along the same pattern, Villa apparently being dragged down to their opponent’s level once again. Although Burnley didn’t look like they had another goal in them, it was hard to see where Villa might find a goal from. The fact that we had only won one game this season after conceding the first goal was ominous despite Burnley having the worst away record in the league. I’ll be honest, I feared this would end 1-1.

I could not be more pleased to be proved wrong though. The second half may well have started as the first finished and without any changes that might not have surprised the casual on looker, but then in a devastating 5 minute spell just before the hour Aston Villa showed their quality and put three goals past the helpless Burnley keeper.

Stewart Downing scored his first Premiership goal for Villa to cap a flowing break down the left wing. Gabby cleverly nodded on for Ash who was charging forward at pace, the bounce of the ball landing perfectly in his stride. Ash made the right decision and passed the ball low across the centre to Downing in space on the right who made no mistake hitting it back to the far post. Text book stuff.

Perhaps Downing goals are like buses; he managed to follow up his maiden effort with a second just 2 minutes later with a nice low drive from the right corner of the box. Gabby had found himself in acres of space in a one on one with the keeper that you might expect him to do better than fire the ball straight into his chest. However, the ball was recovered on the right and fed back to Downing who decided to try his luck. Again, his shot picked up a slight deflection which left the keeper flat footed, but the goal wasn’t undeserved.

Suddenly the flood gates were open and Villa looked like they could score with every attack and, more encouragingly, they looked hungry to pile on the pressure. Just minutes after Downing had taken Villa to 3-1, Emile Heskey got on the scores sheet. Yes, you read that correctly and that may well tell its own story of Villa’s dominance at this stage. Gabby’s fantastic, pacy run down the left made the goal, but making it to the ball before it went out of play would have been for nothing had Heskey not darted into the middle himself to receive and unmissable tap in from 6 yards.

4 – 1 to Villa and it still didn’t look over.

It wasn’t. Gabby got a goal he deserved, again from just 6 yards out, although he had to fire Milner’s smart centre in through a crowd and picked up a slight knock in the process. Heskey’s part in the build up shouldn’t go without mention as he held the ball up well and put the perfect weight on his pass into Milner’s run into the box.

At 5-1 with 22 minutes to go you might expect MON to start ringing some changes to protect some key players for the week that lays ahead. Unsurprisingly, since he appeared to limp away from scoring, Gabby made way for John Carew on 72 minutes. Heskey was given a rest 5 minutes later, with Nathan Delfouneso getting a run out, and Sidwell came on in Ash’s place for the final 8 minutes of regular time.

Villa kept pressing and it certainly appeared that a sixth goal might not be out of the question with Milner, Carew and Delfouneso all apparently keen to get their names on the scoreboard. Despite this, it was Burnley who added to the scoreline with a second goal in injury time, but the nature of the pass from the left that left our usually reliable defense stretched might give MON cause for concern when we meet Utd at Wembley.

However, this time it proved nothing more than a consolation for Burnley and Villa can now enjoy the three points, looking forward to the rest of the week with some confidence.

The first half may not have inspired the home crowd, but I was very happy to see us employ the patience I’ve been hoping to see for so long now. Instead of frantically chasing the game, almost in a panic to score, as frequently has appeared to have been the case lately, the lads seemed willing to bide their time. When the chance came to put Burnley to the sword, they didn’t hesitate and then the hunger all through the team to keep punishing the visitors sends out all the right signals. Quite ruthless.

It’s also refreshing to see some the goals flowing after struggling so badly in the Premiership of late. Let’s hope we don’t now go into another dry spell, but build on this. As I said, the two Burnley goals will have our defenders asking themselves one or two questions, but the overall performance was good enough to brush that aside for now.

Tonight we can enjoy this victory, but tomorrow it’s about focusing on the next challenge; Crystal Palace in the FA Cup. Eight days, three games – so far it’s job done. Keep up the hard work lads, you’re doing a great job!!