Aston Villa 1 Cardiff City 0: Jack Grealish stunner keeps alive Villans’ promotion hopes
Youngster smashes home a second-half volley as Bluebirds pay the price for missed chances
JACK GREALISH’S wonderstrike dealt a devastating blow to Neil Warnock’s bid to mix it with Premier League royalty.
Watched on by Villa fan Prince William, the whizkid midfielder walloped a 25-yard volley in off the post with five minutes to play to knock Cardiff out of the automatic spots.
It was a moment of breathtaking brilliance and recalled Paul Scholes’ dipping volley for Manchester United at Villa Park 12 years ago with the way he plucked it out of the air and crashed it in off the woodwork.
And due to Fulham’s win over Reading, Slavisa Jokanovic’s men replaced the Bluebirds in second spot – albeit with an extra game played.
It was another heartbreaking late moment for Warnock, who had seen his side miss two penalties in stoppage time in the 1-0 defeat to Wolves on Friday.
Cardiff were undone by a super goal that day too when Ruben Neves blasted in a free-kick – but Grealish’s strike was better.
The Bluebirds have now followed up eight straight wins with no victories in three.
And with away trips to Norwich, Derby and Hull all to come, suddenly the momentum looks to be with Jokanovic’s pass-masters.
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The Duke of Cambridge was making his first Villa Park for a decade and was pictured enjoying the game alongside ex-Villan John Carew.
And His Royal Highness will have been delighted by Grealish’s late show which means Villa’s unlikely bid for the top two is not over just yet.
Warnock had lost all six of his previous Football League away meetings against Bruce.
Each failing came with different clubs: Bury, Sheffield United, Leeds, Crystal Palace, Rotherham and Cardiff.
The last of those disappointments was a 3-1 defeat at Villa Park in November 2016, which extended Bruce’s unbeaten reign as Villa chief to seven games and left Cardiff in the drop zone.
The Bluebirds have improved dramatically since then but still Warnock’s old, unwanted habit away to a Bruce side remained in tact here.
The 69-year-old had been boosted by the absence of John Terry due to an ankle knock picked up at Norwich, meaning holding midfielder Mile Jedinak was deployed at centre-back.
While Birkir Bjarnason sustained an injury in the warm-up which saw Glenn Whelan promoted to the first XI.
Prior to the game, Bruce said he expected his side to be much improved from the dismal 3-1 defeat at Norwich on Saturday.
And the hosts could have gone ahead in the opening minutes as Robert Snodgrass slid in Lewis Grabban but the loan striker blasted into the side netting.
Warnock’s men went even closer on 16 minutes as Kenneth Zohore fed the fleet-footed Nathaniel Mendez-Laing who crashed the ball against the far post and away.
Bruce’s injury problems increased when Axel Tuanzebe was forced off midway through the first half to be replaced by James Bree, who only made the squad at the last minute due to Bjarnason’s problem.
The Villa boss also claimed in the build-up that when it came down to the “nitty gritty” his side “had been found wanting”.
This was a nitty-gritty type of match, far from easy on the eye but full of competitive spirit that you see throughout the Championship.
Villa were handling it relatively well and top-scorer Albert Adomah almost put them ahead just after the half hour when he volleyed the wrong side of the post.
But it was Warnock’s men who went into the break frustrated they were not in front after a series of near misses just before the interval.
First, Sean Morrison fired across the box for Zohore but somehow the Dane’s close-range effort was hacked away.
Then Manchester United loanee Sam Johnstone came to the fore, brilliantly repelling Callum Paterson’s strike before turning away a rebound.
Johnstone was at it again after the break, standing tall to clear Zohore’s low drive from ten yards as he continued his excellent campaign to date.
United will be left with a headache in the summer when the 25-year-old returns to Old Trafford as the speed of his development means regular football next season is a must.
His opposite number Neil Etheridge then had to be alert when sub Jonathan Kodjia cut inside past the full-back and smashed it at the near post from an acute angle, parrying up into the air at the first attempt and claiming it at the second.
Warnock had been keen on signing Grabban in January but the Bournemouth ace opted to join Villa on loan instead.
And the Londoner provided the pass of the match to play in Conor Hourihane who should have broken the deadlock but somehow poked past Etheridge and wide of the near post.
But the moment of the game was still to come as the ball fell to Grealish outside the area after Cardiff had cleared Snodgrass’s free-kick.
The 22-year-old’s watched the ball all the way out of the air onto his foot before smashing it back in off the far post – in an exquisite effort Scholes would have been proud of.