Steve Bruce still building platform for Aston Villa success
For all the progress made during his first two-and-a-half months in charge, boss Steve Bruce is under no illusions as to the work remaining if Villa are to achieve their ultimate goal this season.
Though performances might not have always been as fluid or as eye-catching as the manager, or supporters, might desire, few can quibble with an average haul of two points a game in the 12 matches since Bruce replaced Roberto Di Matteo.
It is a run which has seen seven wins, just two defeats and has seen Villa accelerate out of the bottom three and into the top half of the table. Yet, for now, the top six remain frustratingly out of reach, the gap having been locked at around the six-point mark for what feels like several weeks.
Just when Villa think they have closed on their target, it opens up again. A Boxing Day win over Burton brought it down to three, only for Sheffield Wednesday's win at Newcastle just hours later to send it shooting back up again.
"We've got to be positive about the challenge," said Bruce. "We were third-bottom only 12 games ago. Now we are only a few points off the play-offs which is where we want to be."
Beating fifth-placed Leeds tonight would be a guaranteed way of closing the gap, though Bruce knows his team will need to be better than they were against Burton.
Ross McCormack's late winner might have earned Villa a fifth straight home win but it was another afternoon when they did just enough to earn the win and Leeds, with seven wins in their last nine, will provide arguably the toughest test on their own patch since Newcastle visited back in September.
Garry Monk's team also inflicted the first defeats of Bruce's reign with second half goals from Kemar Roofe and Chris Wood in a 2-0 win at Elland Road earlier this month.
"We will have to play better if we want to get something," acknowledged Bruce, who has been nothing less than realistic when addressing the challenge of turning round the fortunes of a club where winning consistently had long become an unfamiliar habit.
He continued: "I have only been in charge for 12 games. It feels like 12 years! The one thing we needed to do was find a way of getting results. We couldn't just walk in and say 'right, we are going to play sparkling football'. We had to lay something down for the way we are going to play.
"The one thing I have always tried to do is make us difficult to beat. For too long we have been easy to beat. At the moment, we might not be that great. In that respect it is what we have worked on. To make sure we are difficult to play against, difficult to beat. That gives you a platform. We can start to play sparkling football when everyone gets a bit confident. But it is going to take longer than 12 games."
Tonight, therefore, is another chance to take a step in the right direction.
