Steve Bruce thankful for 'magic' Jack Grealish

Grealish volleyed home in spectacular fashion from long range with just five minutes remaining, to the delight of a Villa Park crowd which included HRH Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge.

Victory kept alive Villa’s slender hopes of winning automatic promotion but the post-match talk surrounded Grealish’s moment of brilliance.

And Bruce said: “We all know he is a talent. It’s taken him a while to get back to where he was.

“But when he plays like that and scores a goal like that. Moments like that can only be done by a very, very good player.

“He certainly earned his dough tonight.

“He does stuff in training but training is training. It was always going to take a bit of magic to win the game and so it proved.”

Goalkeeper Sam Johnstone also played a major role in Villa’s win, pulling off four big saves to keep the game goal-less.

Conor Hourihane went closest to scoring for the hosts, before Grealish powered Villa to just their second win in six games.

William, a life-long Villa fan, sat in the director’s box alongside former Holte End favourite John Carew, his guest for the night..

And Bruce joked: “The Duke came and picked the team! He said: 'We're English and we've got to beat the Welsh!'

“In all seriousness, it is great that the future king is a Villa fan.

“To be fair to him, he knows his stuff. He came in just before the team sheets went in, it was good to see him.

“We will certainly be giving him a ticket next week.”

Villa’s win allowed Fulham to jump above Cardiff into second place, five points ahead of Bruce’s men.

Captain John Terry missed the game with a twisted ankle and is “touch and go” for Friday night’s game with Leeds.

The boss added: “You can never say never (on automatic promotion) but Fulham’s run has been remarkable. All we can do is keep going and try to close the gap."