Steve Bruce: Aston Villa will be a threat in the Championship
A defiant Steve Bruce remains confident Villa will eventually come good despite defeat to Sheffield Wednesday once more increasing the pressure on his shoulders.
Former Wolves striker Steven Fletcher netted the winner as Wednesday inflicted the first home Championship defeat of the season on Bruce’s men for the second year running.
It followed John McGinn’s spectacular volleyed equaliser for the hosts, which cancelled out Marco Matias’ opener.
The result saw Villa drop back down to 12th in the table and erased any of the goodwill created by Tuesday’s 2-0 win over Rotherham, which snapped a five-game winless run.
For the second Saturday running, Bruce heard sections of the crowd call for his head, while the final whistle was greeted with loud boos.
Bruce said: “There’s some who will never accept me here, but that’s part and parcel of management.
“They’re disappointed, but so am I. Of course I’m just as disappointed.
“We’ll go to work again on Monday and I still believe that the team we have will be a threat in this division.
“We all look for time. That’s the magic word.
“No matter how you dress it up, it’s still a new team and people have only been here for a few weeks,
“When they settle in, they’ll be fine.”
When asked if he expected to be given more time, Bruce replied: “That’s for others to decide.
“All I can do is get on with it and try and work as hard as I can to get a settled team.”
Bruce acknowledged Villa simply hadn’t been good enough on an afternoon when the defensive vulnerability which has been a factor in the campaign to date again cost them dear.
After Matias had opened the scoring, McGinn’s stunning 25-yard volley appeared to have swung momentum behind the hosts.
Yet both Fletcher and Matias had gone close to restoring the visitors’ advantage before the former headed home Joey Pelupessy’s cross.
Bruce said: “It’s a huge disappointment. We didn’t play well enough on the day.
“We didn’t move the ball quick enough. When you have five, six or seven below par, then it’s a difficult afternoon for everybody and it turns into one of those awful afternoons.
“You have to accept it and move on.
“For 15 minutes the goal lifted everybody but that wasn’t enough. Over 90 minutes it wasn’t enough.
“I’m not naive enough to think it will inspire everyone, even though it lifted a lot in the stadium.
“We then had a couple of chances to put us a goal in front.
“Defensively we’ve made too many mistakes. We didn’t quite clear a corner and we’ve got punished.”
