Second-half goals hand Villa the spoils

We suffered defeat at Villa Park on Friday evening as two second-half goals gave Aston Villa the victory.

In our last Premier League away game of the season, goals from Ezri Konsa and Boubacar Kamara after the interval sealed our fate after we’d created some good attacking opportunities in the first period without making the most of them. The best fell to Wilson Odobert, whose clever flick was kept out by Emi Martinez, but we couldn’t find a way through as Villa kept up their push for a Champions League spot next season, while we can now focus fully on our next match – Wednesday’s Europa League Final against Manchester United in Bilbao.

Skipper Heung-Min Son started his first game for over a month after returning from a foot injury off the bench against Crystal Palace last weekend. He was one of three changes alongside Sergio Reguilon and Mikey Moore, and they came in for Pedro Porro, Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski.

The first half was quite open, both sides looking to play on the front foot when the opportunities arose, even if that meant mostly counter-attacks for us. The game was only three minutes old when Son got clear down the left but his attempted cross was blocked while Ollie Watkins flashed a shot straight at Antonin Kinsky before John McGinn fired just over the bar from 15 yards out.

We broke away in the 15th minute, Odobert and Son linking up well with the latter curling over from the left corner of the box and moments later they did so again with Mathys Tel also involved, his low cross superbly flicked goalwards by Odobert but well saved by Martinez. At the other end, Kinsky made a super stop, diving at full stretch to get the merest of touches to tip away Morgan Rogers’ flick from Amadou Onana’s cross, while Kevin Danso made a good block from Watkins after a clever Marco Asensio pass. The Spaniard then went close with a left-footed curler that was inches wide, 36 minutes on the clock.

We went in level at the break and started the second period well, enjoying a good spell of possession and pushing Villa back without forcing Martinez into a save. But, just as the home crowd were starting to get anxious, Villa took the lead just before the hour mark. McGinn hit a deep corner which Watkins headed back into the danger zone and Konsa stuck out a leg to divert the ball past Kinsky.

It was almost 2-0 soon after, however our goalkeeper made another good save to keep out Watkins’ prod goalwards, before McGinn and Matty Cash both fired wide as the hosts cranked up the pressure. And they duly added a second in the 73rd minute when Kamara cut in from the right and drilled low into the bottom corner. Odobert looked like he was through on goal following a quick clearance from Kinsky but didn’t get his second touch right and was closed down, but there wasn’t a great deal of action in the closing stages as a disappointing away campaign in the league this season came to a close.

Match data

Goals: Aston Villa – Konsa 59, Kamara 73.

Yellow cards: Aston Villa – Cash; Spurs – Gray, Tel.

Referee: Peter Bankes.

Venue: Villa Park.

Weather: Sunny, gentle breeze, 18 degrees.

Attendance: 42,239.