When I switched on the box after 60 minutes of play I was amazed! I had not seen such committed play by the Claret and Blues for a long time, striving for, and winning, most of the balls. And here they were, against one of our 'derby' teams, showing such fight. When Matt Lowton won the ball and struck a beauty that was only just saved, my heart pumped even more. But wait: Ashley Westwood then strode forward and blasted the ball home to make it 4-0! Then I woke up!
Of course, I was watching Burnley against Wolves in the early kick-off! And it just so happened that two old Villans (who we thought were not good enough for us) were helping their team in a massive way.
But as soon as I saw Burnley's display I knew instinctively what my post would say today. I felt that, yet again, we would be seeing our team play without any sense of the drive shown by Burnley. And we were so slack that I thought the Baggies would win in the end. In fact, the match, with two penalties and an own goal being the story behind the three opening goals, seemed to illustrate just how the match was going.
Then, with 10 minutes to go, up pops Davis - our long underplayed bench-warmer - to show how it could be done.
First, Davis swivels like Zola but fires at the keeper, then he swivels like McGinn and cracks the outside of the post, and then he anticipates that Albion might be brainwashed into thinking that we're not bothered by being alert to some over-confident defending and pokes it home for his first Premiership goal.
Good for Davis! At least he was awake. I reckon he must have been sitting on the bench thinking "Just let me at 'em!"
Apart from the last 10 or 15 minutes, Villa must have been thinking that all they have to do is turn up to win, so slack was their play. I was glad to see Luiz go off and replaced with the more motivated Ramsey. Barkley also should have gone off earlier, let alone not started. When I saw the starting line-up with Barkley in it I groaned.
What does Davis have to do to earn a start alongside Ollie?
What was better for me is that Davis got the equaliser and took the spotlight off Wesley. I have plenty of sympathy for Wesley, but more for Davis.
Ah, well. The season doth slither to an end. Perhaps Sean Dyche should replace Dean, then we might at least see some real action every week. Or am I being facile?
I am, however, seriously worried that Dean thinks that by just playing cosy football that Villa will get somewhere.
UTV!
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