Express & Star

Dean Smith: Win over Bristol City shows Aston Villa are no one-man team

Dean Smith felt Villa proved they are not a one-man team by beating Bristol City without captain Jack Grealish.

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Goals from Tammy Abraham and Conor Hourihane helped Villa beat the Robins 2-1 and record eight straight league wins for the first time since 1975.

Victory also saw them further cement fifth spot in the Championship, ahead of an Easter weekend double header against Bolton and Millwall.

And it was achieved without Grealish, who missed the game through illness.

Villa had won their seven previous game since the 23-year-old’s return from injury and Smith said: “I’m glad we’ve put in a performance without him. I’d much rather we had him, and there has been an awful lot said that we’re a one man team with Jack Grealish - we’ve shown today that we’re not.

“We’ve got a good squad here, a talented one. We know there’s an awful lot of quality, but when you see the desire they can certainly go far as a group.”

Smith revealed Grealish had been sent home from training on Friday due to illness.

He continued: “I expected Jack to be in this morning. We had to send him home yesterday from training, he wasn’t feeling very well and he had a temperature.

“I then got that phone call that you don’t want, at 10:30 this morning, to say that he’s struggling to get up the stairs.”

Villa were also without Tyrone Mings and Kortney Hause in defence, while Jonathan Kodjia missed the game with a rib injury.

But they took the lead in the 55th minute when Abraham converted from the spot, after Jack Hunt had pulled down Hourihane in the box.

The latter then doubled the advantage 11 minutes later with a first-time finish, before Famara Diedhiou pulled one back for the visitors.

Yet Villa might have won by more were it not for the brilliance of Robins keeper Max O’Leary, who denied John McGinn and substitute Keinan Davis, as well as Hourihane on several occasions.

Villa remain five points clear of seventh-placed Middlesbrough, having won eight on the spin for the first time since Ron Saunders was manager.

“Ron Saunders was an unbelievable manager so to be mentioned in the same breath as him fills me with pride and my family as well,” said Smith.

“It’s some achievement to win eight games in this league. You only have to look at the fixtures we’ve had in this run - Birmingham away, Derby at home, Nottingham Forest away, Blackburn home, Sheffield Wednesday away, Bristol City at home.

“It’s been a real tough run of games and fixtures, but I’d say with the exception of Sheffield Wednesday, we’ve deserved to win all of them.

“It’s a credit to the players. It takes some performance levels, but the lads have shown that they’ve got that.”