Conor Hourihane: Aston Villa starting to silence their critics

Saturday’s 2-1 victory over Nottingham Forest also extended their unbeaten run in the Championship to six matches and saw them climb into the top ten.

It followed the previous weekend’s 3-0 win at Barnsley and further eased the pressure on boss Steve Bruce, who had come in for criticism after consecutive goalless draws to Brentford and Middlesbrough earlier in the month.

Hourihane said: “I think the media put him (the manager) under pressure by what they were saying. Back-to-back wins have kept everyone quiet.

“I think he was hard done by. We didn’t win games but we weren’t losing them either. Two 0-0s on paper, at home, isn’t great.

“But those draws don’t look too bad now with back-to-back wins. Hopefully this run keeps going.”

Villa now head to Burton tomorrow night and Hourihane knows the expectations will be of another win.

“The lads know that,” he said. “We will be going out to win every game.

“We are always under pressure at this club because expectations are really high. Everyone wants to get promoted, the players, the fans.

“It is the biggest club in the division and people expect us to win every game. Everyone has to handle the pressure and take it in their stride.”

Hourihane fired home his fifth of the season to earn his team victory over Forest, after Daryl Murphy had cancelled out Albert Adomah’s opener.

Villa’s win came despite the visitors dominating the bulk of possession but Hourihane said: “That doesn’t matter. If they had 99 per cent possession and we had one per cent and won we’d take it every day.

“We played well in the first-half and could have had another goal. They didn’t really test our keeper.

“They got lucky with the goal, which bounced off a few people and ended with a one-on-one.

“Obviously we went back ahead and it got a bit edgy. But we will take any kind of win in this league, it doesn’t matter how you win, results are what you are judged on.”