Dave Woodhall watches admiringly as Villa beat Salzburg in the Europa League.
The last week and a bit might turn out to be one of the most significant periods in the Villa’s modern history. After losing at home to Everton and picking up a string of injuries we’ve played three games, won them all and if the scorelines weren’t enough there were events that showed we’re on the verge of something very special.
Unai picked a stronger than expected team against Salzburg, with a lot of comment about whether Amadou Onana should have been risked. It would have been good to see Lamare Bogarde and George Hemmings starting together but cover at right-back is virtually non-existent so Bogarde was out there and Onana had everyone in the ground worried whenever an opponent or the ball came near him.
The game kicked off and within a minute Villa could have gone a goal up thanks to Harvey Elliott, playing presumably because we’ve got nobody else, foiled by the Austrian keeper’s heels. The visitors were supposed to be one of the poorer sides in the competition but they started to put some decent play together and it took a good double save from Emiliano Martinez to prevent them from taking the lead. That was just a temporary reprieve because Tyrone Mings seemed to stumble when attempting a pass inside the box, looked as though he’d got away with it as an open goal was skewed wide only for Victor Lindelof to attempt a clearance that put the ball into the net.
Then things got decidedly worse when Ollie Watkins had to go off with a hamstring injury and at half-time what should have been a routine outing was looking a bit problematic. The evening went further downhill four minutes into the second half as Salzburg went two up with the sort of goal the Villa defence should be cutting out several times over. Substitutes came on and suddenly, despite Salzburg almost getting a third, the match was transformed.
Emiliano Buendia and Morgan Rogers passed their way through the visiting defence with Rogers the one to score, then after 76 minutes a perfect cross from Matty Cash was met by the head of Tyrone Mings for the sort of goal clubs spend tens of millions on strikers for. The winner was inevitable and the fairytale made it complete. Kaden Young, a veritable old stager at twenty, took the ball forward and laid it across for Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba to score his first senior goal. A late winner, at the Holte End, in a European tie. It doesn’t get much better.
Villa proved that they came come back from adversity, when they’re not playing well, and grind out a win. We had youngsters coming onto the biggest stage and showing they belong. And we also had an almost capacity crowd, for a game with nothing riding on it, with Christmas not yet paid for and Premier League prices to watch what was always going to be a weakened team. Whatever happens between now and the end of the season, something’s happening at Villa Park.
