Aston Villa hosted Bristol City at Villa Park on a truly dismal Tuesday evening in Birmingham, and here is how it played out.
The first half
Bristol probably started out as the better side, though it was a scrappy opening for sure. Their crossing looked dangerous, and Neil Taylor had to clear a dangerous ball in early on, before the crossbar was rattled with Sam Johnstone well beaten.
Despite the shaky start, Villa had the best chance of the half by a long shot. Gary Gardner reacted well to a defensive error, and earned Villa a penalty after being brought down by keeper Fabian Giefer. Up stepped Jonathan Kodjia against his former club, and he blasted it against the crossbar. The away fans were all over Jimmy Danger, and it really got to him, as he had a really poor half.
Gary Gardner went off injured, and Conor Hourihane made his way onto the pitch perhaps earlier than expected. All told, it was a flat, scrappy half, in which nothing much happened.
The second half couldn't be worse, right?
The second half
Oh my days, it got so much better.
Albert Adomah linked up with fellow ex Bristol City teammate Jonathan "Jimmy Danger" Kodjia to give Villa the lead. Adomah's cross was met by the head of Kodjia, and that kicked things off.
The two were involved in the second goal as well. Kodjia got to the byeline, and unfortunately, Adomah mis kicked it badly. But way less unfortunately, it fell to Conor Hourihane, who fired home his first goal for the club.
Aside from the aforementioned trio, Alan Hutton and Andre Green were terrific. Hutton got forward a fair bit, and had two efforts blocked. Green meanwhile almost scored a stunner, hitting the crossbar from 30 yards out. The only downer on the win was that Green was forced off with a hamstring injury late on, especially gutting considering he's performance. But, it'll be Jack Grealish's chance to prove himself next.
And wow, Aston Villa have finally won back to back games again. What a time to be alive.