Town fell to their second 2-1 defeat in a week as they were once again made to pay for defensive errors. A first half goal from Lee Hendrie put Villa ahead and a second half header from Dion Dublin had seemingly settled the game. However, a spirited fightback by the Blues in the latter stages saw Marcus Stewart notch his first of the season.
Town lined up with James Scowcroft taking over from Marcus Stewart and Mark Venus returning in place of John Scales.
The game got under way, but quickly ground to a halt as Villa’s Luc Nilis collided with Richard Wright and went down injured. The Belgian striker appeared to have suffered a broken leg and the game was held up for ten minutes or so while he was put on a stretcher.
As at Leicester Town were patchy, but luckily so were the visitors. The ball was constantly given away by both sides in a sometimes fierce midfield battle.
Town began to get going with some of the slick passing from the first three games of the season evident once more. Unfortunately this wasn’t always the case and a pass from the left to Jim Magilton went well behind the Ulsterman. Villa picked up the ball and Hendrie, completely unmarked running in from the left, curled the ball in off Richard Wright’s left post.
Late in the first half Town had their best opportunity when Fabian Wilnis, probably Town’s best player on the day, made one of his mazy semi-controlled runs. He was dispossessed but the ball ran free to Jermaine Wright who hammered a shot wide.
Town were by no means out of it, but the first half performance wasn’t up to the levels of the excellent home displays against Manchester United and Sunderland.
The second half got under way with more of the same, however it wasn’t long before Town were even further behind. A corner from the left flew in and Dublin headed home from close. It was unclear who was marking the former Cambridge man and Richard Wright had little chance.
Town tried to change things around with John McGreal replacing Mark Venus and Martijn Reuser surprisingly replacing Jermaine Wright as Town went to a 4-4-2 formation. Wright must count himself unlucky to be hauled off for the second game running as he looked one of the brighter sparks on a not brilliant afternoon.
Town were unlucky with a couple of penalty shouts, first Johnson was pulled back and then Scowy was dragged down as he turned when quite close on goal. However, referee Andy D’Urso was not impressed, although both sets of fans may look at a number of very curious decisions. Particularly he seemed to have little understanding of the handball law.
Town replaced David Johnson, who had had another quiet afternoon, with Marcus Stewart who gave the attack a more positive look.
Town eventually got back into the game in the last minute of normal time as Hreidarsson, by now playing in a very advanced full back role, nodded on a throw in to Stewart who dragged the ball away from David James (at his cross missing ball dropping worst all afternoon) and tucked it into the net.
Town continued to press in the final stages as David Ginola and Titus Bramble picked up yellow cards in separate incidents. Bramble was later lucky to remain on the field in a spat with Villa’s Ian Taylor which could have seen both players depart. Ginola’s entire contribution to the game were two blatant dives and two bad fouls, the first of which on Fabian Wilnis was particularly bad.
Town carried on looking for the equaliser in the five minutes of injury times, but it was not to be.
Another defeat then, but a better performance than at Leicester on Wednesday. Particularly encouraging was Marcus Stewart’s performance when coming on as sub. He seemed to add something that the attack had previously lacked. Could we see David Johnson drop to the bench for next week’s game at Leeds?