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| Rudy Gestede celebrates after scoring the winner for Aston Villa |
RUDY GESTEDE gave boss Tim Sherwood plenty to smile about after settling this crunch derby clash.
Gestede clinched victory over their battling Second City rivals with a trademark 63rd minute header. It was enough to settle matters and leave the claret and blue half of town delighted and relieved.
It helped take the heat off Villa who had been booed off at the weekend after defeat against their other neighbours West Brom. A repeat dose from the Championship side was the last thing Sherwood needed and Gestede came up trumps.
Sherwood said: “We were on a hiding to nothing out there. But my players showed bravery wanting the ball.
“I’m delighted with the boys’ performance. It’s all about winning. Fans don’t dissect performances they just want you to win.
“We wore them down and they struggled to handle it. I thought they were great out there.”
But Sherwood seemed put out at Blues boss Gary Rowett’s revelation that he knew the Villa team the day before.
“Well done to him. Of course it’s not nice to hear that. But it’s interesting why he should mention it. Strange really.”Rowett said: “There shouldn’t be one of our players with their heads down. Villa didn’t have it easy by any means.
“Our fans will be disappointed but hopefully they will take something from that.”
Sherwood punched the air jubilantly as his big striker came up with the matchwinner He swung the advantage Villa’s way just past the hour mark – 60 minutes which had been lukewarm and unmemorable to say the least.
The former Blackburn striker made no mistake when he raced in to meet a cross from Jordan Amavi. He slipped the close attention of Jonathan Grounds and gave keeper Tomasz Kuszczak no chance with a powerful header.
Suddenly Villa had the initiative over their bitter rivals and boss Sherwood couldn’t hide his delight as he thrust his fist skywards.
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| Jack Grealish is delighted after Gestede strikes to give Villa victory over rivals Birmingham |
There was probably a fair bit of relief thrown in to the equation as well as his Premier League side tried to underline their status over Brum.
Blues fans never tire of reminding their neighbours that their finest hour came in this competition when they won it in 2011. As if that wasn’t sweet enough, they knocked Villa out along the way and that still stings down the road in B6.
Birmingham squandered one really good chance to get back on level terms when Jacques Maghoma really should have done better with a great 74th minute chance.
He seized onto a Demarai Gray through ball and could hardly believe how much time and space he had. But he fluffed his shot – hitting a tame effort which barely got off the ground and gave Brad Guzan no trouble at all.
Substitute Jordan Ayew might have wrapped it up with six minutes left but his angled shot was pushed away by Kuszczak.
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| Villa captain Micah Richards celebrates the derby victory |
And so Gestede’s lunging header proved the difference as Birmingham’s spirited performance ended up counting for nothing.
The fact that neither keeper really had any meaningful activity in a desperately poor opening 45 minutes just about said it all. Blues’ Tomasz Kuszczak did have to intercept an angled shot from Scott Sinclair shortly before half-time but that was about it.
Gestede provided the one real memorable moment and it was enough to see off their rivals and shunt Villa into the next round.
Aston Villa (4-4-2): Guzan; Bacuna, Richards, Lescott, (Grealish 46) Amavi; Veretout, Clark, Westwood, Sinclair; Gestede, Agbonlahor (Ayew 46). Booked: Westwood, Clark, Agbonlahor. Goal: Gestede 62.
Birmingham (4-1-2-3): Kuszczak; Caddis, Spector, Morrison, Grounds; Gleeson, Kieftenbeld, Davis (Toral 66); Gray, Maghoma (Solomon-Otobor 81), Donaldson (BrockMadsen 81), Gray. Booked: Morrison.
Referee: R Madley (West Yorkshire).
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