Steve Bruce: Aston Villa overcame a 'big test' against Blackburn Rovers

A Jonathan Kodjia double saw Villa come from behind to win for the first time since April last year.

The Ivory Coast international fired home from the penalty spot to cancel out Sam Gallagher's opener for the visitors and then scored a superb winner as Villa made it five games unbeaten under their new manager.

And Bruce said: "It was a big test after going behind but thankfully we responded in the right manner.

"Towards the last half an hour we started to look like a team."

Villa had not come from behind to win since the FA Cup semi-final victory over Liverpool. They had not come from behind to win a league game, meanwhile, since December 2014.

"It was 18 months since we'd won away from home, 18 months since we'd won back-to-back games and now 18 months since we came from behind to win a game," said Bruce.

"That shows you what a difficult place the club has been in during the last 18 months. That's the difficulty this club faces.

"The more confidence this lot get the more chance we've got of getting it right.

"It certainly helps, a few victories. We've now got a huge game against Brighton in 13 games time. It will be a huge test."

The manager also paid tribute to match-winner Kodjia, who has now scored five goals in five games.

"You only have to come and watch him to see what a good player he is," he said. "He's got that trick in his locker. What he does do very well for us is he enjoys playing on the side.

"A lot of French teams play with a striker on the sides rather than a winger.

"Albert (Adomah) is winger, he gives you something different. Kodjia is a centre-forward who plays wide and does it very well.

"All of his goals, he's got penalties, of course, have come from that way. It's important.

"It helps me to get another centre-forward on the pitch which I was able to do to do that."