The last time villa scored 6 goals in a game, my girl who is going to college later this year was less than a 1 month old baby. It was a long time coming, but it was very timely.
Sunderland didn’t deserve to lose 6-1, but someone was going to get a spanking from Villa, it was due. It could have been Fulham or Stoke who were decidedly second best, or Everton away, where Villa let the Toffees off the hook. But, it turned out to be Di Canio’s Cats that were on the crest of a wave after some nice performances since his arrival.
It was a tight opening 30 minutes, with few openings. Gardner had a chance after Guzan mis -judged a cross, but his cross was cut out by Vlaar. Agbonlahor played a decent 1-2 with Benteke, but his clip was slightly mis-hit and went just wide.
The 30 minute mark was when the game exploded to life. Villa had a decent attack going, but Delph was reluctant to shoot, he played the ball to Benteke. He had no options so shot, but the ball was blocked to Delph. He decided to shoot, although he was off balance and again the ball was blocked. It fell out about 30 yards and Ron VLAAR pounced, he reacted quicker than Graham and ran the ball closer before releasing one of his wicked shots, Mignolet saw it late and it nestled in the back of the net.
Sunderland equalized within 2 minutes. Tottenham loanee ROSE played 2 lovely 1-2’s, the second one with Graham and his shot went inside the post.
If, Villa was going to buckle from the goal, it didn’t show, but Sunderland grew in confidence and it was that confidence that proved their undoing. Up to the opening goal, Sunderland had harassed Villa’s midfielder’s and defenders and forced them to play back to Guzan, after the goal the game had become open and Villa got players into better positions, but also seemed more vulnerable and Sunderland looked to exploit it. A long cross field ball was superbly intercepted by Lowton; the youngster not only kept the opponents from attacking; controlled the ball and set up a counter. He raced down the right, cut inside, looked up and saw Weimann standing in acres of space, former Villan Bardsley, nowhere to be seen; sent a perfect pass that WEIMANN coolly stroked home for 2-1.
The second half saw the visitors jump on Villa early. Villa looked nervy in possession; it was a scene the fans have watched all season. A decent cross wasn’t dealt with by Vlaar and Guzan watched helplessly as it went wide.
Villa eventually put some nice moves together again and in the 55th minute doubled their lead. Agbonlahor worked hard, got into position and saw his shot take a wicked deflection that Mignolet had to twist to get a hand to it. The ball bounced perfectly to BENTEKE, who was amazingly onside thanks to Cuellar and he headed home from close range. Four minutes later, BENTEKE rose above Cuellar to nod a corner home. Sunderland had nobody on the post.
At 4-1 Sunderland got chippy, with Rose getting booked then N’Diaye. Sunderland’s lack of discipline at that point may have been the reason they saw red. Sylla turned away from Sessegnon, who jumped in and landed on the midfielder’s foot. By the letter of the law it was a red, but it was more a forwards tackle. But, the way the away team had been playing, the ref felt he had no choice.
Two minutes later, BENTEKE found himself in front of goal after another Cuellar mistake. Mignolet cheated to his left and the Belgian beat him on the inside.
With the hat-trick wrapped up, Lambert decided to try out the promising kid Darren Bent, who laid on a great chance for Weimann, but Mignolet saved. Substitute, Vaughan hit a nightmare pass from the Villa side of the field past his defenders to a 5 yards offside AGBONLAHOR (we know he was offside because Cuellar appealed so vehemently) and the speedster ran in with Bent expecting the little side feed. Instead, the lifelong Villan showed how much he’s grown by beating a player cleanly, something he’s been doing more frequently these days. He took the ball around Mignolet and banged the ball into the empty net to become Villa’s highest Premiership scorer and overtake Newcastle on goal difference.
Paulo DiCanio never beat Villa as a player and is still awaiting his first win as a manager against the claret and blue. It is going to be an interesting last 3 games, but losing Sessegnon is going to be a huge loss for the Cats.
For Villa a big confidence builder going to a Norwich side that looked horrible at Stoke and although Benteke got man of the match for his hat-trick, Lowton looked every inch the player that is being linked to Arsenal. He passed the ball beautifully; beat players and nobody got by him down the wing. For me, there wasn’t a better player on the pitch.