BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters) – A shocking strike by Ollie Watkins and a late objective by Tyrone Mings gave Aston Villa a 2-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion at Villa Park within the Premier League on Saturday in Steven Gerrard’s first match as their new supervisor.
Villa scored on the counter-attack within the 84th minute after substitute Ashley Younger carried the ball out of defence and located Watkins, who minimize in from the left earlier than unleashing an unstoppable shot into the highest nook.
Mings put the end result past doubt when he scored Villa’s second within the 89th minute to snap their run of 5 league defeats that ended within the membership sacking Dean Smith and changing him with Gerrard on Nov. 11.
The match regarded headed for a goalless draw earlier than the 2 late Villa strikes, with neither facet in a position to carve out many probabilities.
Villa began properly and practically took the lead within the twelfth minute when Matt Targett’s cross discovered Matthew Money on the again publish, however the fitting again’s low header was turned away by Jason Steele within the Brighton objective.
Brighton grew into the competition and got here shut on the half-hour mark, when Marc Cucurella crossed from the left and the ball got here off Jacob Ramsey and fell to Leandro Trossard, whose shut vary shot was parried by goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez.
Brighton dominated possession however carved out few clear probabilities, and Martinez did properly to race off his line and smother a Tariq Lamptey strike in stoppage time on the finish of the primary half to maintain the scores degree.
Villa had been denied once more at first of the second half when John McGinn floated the ball in from a freekick and located Tyrone Mings, whose header again throughout objective was stored out by the diving Steele.
The match regarded destined for a stalemate earlier than Watkins struck to place Villa heading in the right direction for a much-needed victory that moved them as much as fifteenth within the desk on 13 factors, 4 above the relegation zone. Brighton slipped one spot to eighth place.
(Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru; Modifying by Hugh Lawson)