
Follow us on Twitter @claretandview // Words by Regan Foy (@FindFoy)
Villa came into the game only losing once at Villa Park, and today they continued their fine form with a 2-0 win against Ipswich.
The first twelve or so minutes were relatively quiet, with both teams struggling to attack.
Joe Garner thought he’d given Ipswich the lead just before the fifteenth minute, as Sam Johnstone dropped the ball after coming for a corner and Garner buried it home – but Johnstone was judged to have been fouled and the goal was disallowed.
Twenty-five minutes in, Villa’s injury hell worsened as Mile Jedinak picked up a knock and Chris Samba returned to his centre-back position that many fans thought he had made his own against QPR and Sunderland.
Ipswich had the better spells in the game for much of the first half an hour, but Villa were resolute in their defence – just couldn’t get out of their own half very much.
Keinan Davis’ flying header nearly gifted Villa the lead after the youngster connected to a Adomah cross, but the ball found itself a little off-target.
Albert Adomah scored his ninth league goal of the season after Glenn Whelan headed a ball into the Ipswich box, finding it’s way to the winger who buried it home, providing the first goal of the game.
This strike proved to be the only goal of the half, as Aston Villa went into the dressing room 1-0 up.
There was not much to be discussed in the first fifteen minutes of the half, but Villa looked strong in both defence and attack.
Albert Adomah must need some cooling down, because the on-fire forward scored his second of the game in the sixty-fith minute, placing a shot cooly into the bottom left corner after a mistake from Dominic Iorfa in Ipswich’s defence which saw Snodgrass’ long ball reach the Ghanaian.
Alan Hutton could have easily been sent off in the 73rd minute for his reaction to a harsh tackle from Emyr Huws, but avoided a card as the Ipswich midfielder received a yellow.
With ten minutes remaining. Ahmed Elmohamady replaced Neil Taylor, with Hutton swapping over to the left so that Elmohamady was on his favoured right-hand-side.
Keinan Davis looked to pick up a knock with five minutes to go, and was duly replaced by Jack Grealish.
The side then played a bit of keep ball to secure the win, keeping Villa in 4th and closing the gap on the upper echelons of the league.