I thiught we played very well last night, and the scoreline does not give a full reflection of the game. The turning point was probably Ash Taylor's injury: for the first twenty minutes of the second half we had Villa penned back for long periods and looking very edgy. Taylor had kept Bent quiet for the majority of the game, but within 60 seconds of him going off Villa broke away down our right hand side and scored the second, effectively ending the game. I don't think we ever recovered our defensive shape and discipline from that point onwards, and Villa had further chances to score thereafter.
There were many positives to take from the game, the biggest of which was the quality of the football from our midfield. We never resorted to route one tactics and Wallace and particularly Palmer, who was my man of the match, seemed to revel in coming up against higher quality opposition.
I would not really class Akpro's efforts as 'misses', more a question of good defending from Villa, who got blocks in on both occasions. Ultimately, the difference between the teams was that extra touch of class in the final third, whether from defenders or strikers, as epitomised by Bent's finish for the third goal.
Villa looked the more technically able of the sides as you would expect, but I thought they were mediocre until we became stretched in the last 15 minutes. The exception was Steven Ireland, who I thought was immense. I did not realise what a good player he is until seeing him in the flesh last night.
Had Taylor stayed on the pitch we would probably have still lost the game, but at 1-0 down early in the second half we were the better team, and with Ash playing 90 minutes I certainly don't think we would have conceded three.
Coming away from the game I felt proud of our efforts, and with the extra quality we have in the team this year I don't see why we can't have a very successful league season.