A brilliant strike from Ollie Watkins and a late goal by Tyrone Mings helped Aston Villa win 2-0 over Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League’s first match as manager of Steven Gerrard at Villa Park on Saturday.
Villa scored a counter-attack in the 84th minute when substitute Ashley Young took the ball off defense and found Watkins, who cut from the left before an unassailable shot into the top corner.
Mings put the result beyond doubt when he scored Villa’s second goal in the 89th minute to end his run of five league defeats that ended with the club sacking Dean Smith and Gerrard replacing him on 11 November.
The match was drawn into a goalless draw before Villa’s two late strikes saw neither side be able to create many chances.
Villa started well and almost took the lead in the 12th minute when Matt Targett’s cross found Matthew Cash on the back post, but a right-back low header was deflected by Jason Steele into a Brighton goal.
Brighton advanced into the contest and came close to the half-hour mark, when Mark Cucurella crossed to the left and the ball passed over Jacob Ramsey and fell to Leandro Trossard, whose close range shot was passed by goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez. have done.
Brighton dominated possession but carved out some clear opportunities, and Martinez did well to break out of his line and thwart Tariq Lumpty’s strike in stoppage time at the end of the first half to keep the score level. done.
Villa were denied again at the start of the second half when John McGuin swung the ball inside with a freekick and found Tyrone Mings, whose header was held out by a diving steel in the back goal.
The match looked destined to be a stalemate, before Watkins struck Villa for a much-needed victory that moved them to 15th place on the table with 13 points, four above the relegation zone. Brighton slipped one place to eighth.
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