There are way too many variables involved to accurately predict what will happen in a football match, which is why I generally try to avoid making them. As if to prove this, I said before the game that we were unlikely to see a repeat of the scoreline from this fixture last season and that we couldn’t expect any favours from the fixtures around us. Well, in all honesty, if we had gone in at half time 3 or 4 up it wouldn’t have flattered us at all. We had two goals disallowed in slightly dubious circumstances and created a bunch of other decent chances. Hull also held Chelsea to a goalless draw – I’m really looking forward to their visit to Villa Park in a couple of weeks now!! When was the last time we played a team like Chelsea at this stage of the season and could describe the game as a “six pointer”?!?!

If Blackburn didn’t really give a decent account of themselves in the first half they certainly made a greater effort in the second following the introduction of Diouf. There were moments when I would imagine most Villa fans were wondering if they’d be left to rue not extending the one goal lead. I’m also sure that there will be no shortage of Blackburn fans accusing Villa of being “lucky” once again for not conceding any number of penalty shouts. And there were several. Mostly innocuous challenges resulting in a Blackburn player falling down or dubious claims for handball. Was it just me who got the impression that the home team were more interested in attempting to win a penalty than actually trying to get the ball in the back of the net?? If that’s the case, you roll the dice and take your chances, but don’t call us lucky when it doesn’t come off for you. You’ll also need to conveniently forget our disallowed goals from the first half, but I’m sure that’s what the detractors will do.

But look, we won again. 7 straight away wins now. Milner scored a wonderful goal after a cleverly worked short corner with Gareth Barry. I’m taking this as a sign that MON is working with the lads in training on finding ways to break down stubborn opposition. I could be wrong about this, but it’s not often we see something that’s clearly rehearsed and a little different from what you might expect the lads to do. I’m all for that, we need to find an edge somewhere sometimes.

There might be some concern that we weren’t able to get what could have been a vital second goal for so long, but once again it wasn’t through lack of effort. Despite a spirited second half display from Blackburn, they really didn’t look like they were going to score in open play.

I can’t really fault anyone in Claret & Blue today, they all played well from the back to front. I think the side MON has built is now really adding up to more than the sum of it’s parts. I would never try to argue that we have the talent of the sides above us at our disposal, but we are where we are on merit and we have nothing to fear when we take them on in the coming months.