Calderwood urges Villa to keep fellow Wolves hunters at bay

Posted Monday, February 12, 2018 by PA

Colin Calderwood claims Aston Villa need to keep ahead of the teams they have recently leap-frogged into second place following their 2-0 Championship win over local rivals Birmingham.

Goals from Albert Adomah and Conor Hourihane were enough to take Villa above Derby, with Birmingham two points above the relegation places.

Villa’s assistant manager said: “We have to take care of staying where we are at the moment. That is more important than worrying about (league leaders) Wolves.”

Calderwood, standing in for the indisposed Steve Bruce, was full of praise for the all-round team performance.

“The confidence of our winning run kept the players going when we were unable to score when on top in the first half,” he said.

“But after we scored we really took control of the game. We found our rhythm better than Birmingham and we were able to to create some good openings.

“The passing of Jack Grealish was excellent and played a leading role in this important game.

“We are certainly enjoying the elation of beating Birmingham on derby day as the players are very focused on the future.”

Calderwood paid credit to Bruce, who was on the touchline after a difficult week for him personally following the death of his father Joe.

Calderwood said: “He picked the team. At half-time he kept the players focused and as an experienced manager he controlled everything.”

Villa’s domination, undoubtedly generated by the outstanding skill of Grealish, was rewarded with two second-half goals from Adomah and Hourihane.

The former took his tally to 13 for the season and has discovered a goalscoring habit since being switched from the right flank to the left.

Birmingham manager Steve Cotterill was extremely disappointed with the outcome.

He admitted: “We didn’t have the quality, experience and belief.

“I am not talking about an average Villa team. They are packed with quality and Premiership experience whereas I thought there were a few of my boys who didn’t have the belief to play in the game.

“We have played very well of late but in the first 25 minutes we were not on our front foot. If Sam Gallagher’s shot had gone in just before half time (it hit the post instead) it might have given us more belief.

“Our inexperience was exposed and after going two goals down it was an uphill task as the game looked a little too big for some of our young boys. They did not perform and it was disappointing. It will be good experience but it is painful at the moment.”

Cotterill acknowledges that Birmingham are still in a relegation fight and admitted: “We were not good enough take on a Villa side so full of experience.”