Aston Villa 1 - 0 C Palace
Aston Villa finally seal home league win thanks to Crystal Palace keeperHome team scorersJoleon Lescott 58
Crystal Palace's goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey fails to stop the ball as Aston Villa take the lead in the Premier League match
It has been a long time coming – 157 days to be exact – but the wait is finally over for Aston Villa, who remembered what it feels like to win a Premier League match. Wayne Hennessey gave them more than a helping hand on a night when Joleon Lescott went some way to repairing the damage he did to his reputation in those ugly scenes four days earlier at Wycombe Wanderers.
Allegedly involved in a foul-mouthed altercation with Villa supporters, Lescott took the first step on the road to redemption with a precious goal in the 58th minute to give Rémi Garde his first win as manager at the 11th attempt. It is the first time Villa have won at home in the league in eight months, stretching back to a time when Tim Sherwood was in charge, an FA Cup final was on the horizon and optimism was in the air.
The mood has turned mutinous of late and the chances are that this victory will count for little in the grand scheme of things, yet at least it has provided Villa fans with something to cheer. Villa remain eight points adrift of safety with 17 games remaining and still require a minor miracle to avoid relegation. A cloud, however, has been lifted and it will be fascinating to see what a shot of confidence does for this team.
As for Crystal Palace, the defeat will be seen as something of an embarrassment, in particular for Hennessey, who made the ball look like a bar of soap as it wriggled out of his hands and between his legs. Lescott’s reaction as the ball trickled over the line was muted to say the least – perhaps not surprising in the circumstances – but there was nothing subdued about the celebrations at the final whistle.
With Palace hugely impressive on their travels this season and Villa dreadful no matter where they play, the home fans could have been forgiven for fearing the worst beforehand. Yet by the interval there was a ripple of almost polite applause – a welcome change from the boos that have been the soundtrack to Villa’s campaign so far – after a first-half display that at least showed some signs of fight after Saturday’s woeful events.
The debacle at Wycombe, both on and off the field, was still fresh in the mind and it would be fair to say that the names of Joleon Lescott and Brad Guzan were not exactly well received when the teams were announced. The two of them are alleged to have sworn at Villa fans at Adams Park after they were confronted about playing a game to see how far they could spit their chewing gum while sitting on the bench. While Lescott was restored to the starting lineup here, Guzan remained among the substitutes, with Mark Bunn continuing in goal.
Signed on a free transfer from Norwich City in the summer, Bunn was making his first league appearance in more than two and a half years and his evening almost got off to a miserable start. There were only 44 seconds on the clock when Palace raided Villa’s right flank, carving them wide open in the process, and Wilfried Zaha struck the upright with Bunn beaten. Zaha had swapped passes with Jason Puncheon but, with the angle against him, curled a right-footed shot that clipped the outside of the post.
It did not bear thinking about how Villa would have reacted had they conceded so soon. As it happens, they were able to play their way into a scrappy game, building up a bit of momentum at times in the first half, albeit without ever looking that threatening in front of goal.
Jordan Ayew was at least buzzing about and trying to make things happen.
The Ghanaian left Pape Souaré, the Palace left-back, on his backside with a lovely piece of skill on the Villa right but then looked at exasperated by the lack of support when his cut-back was easily intercepted. Four minutes later Ayew volleyed against the side-netting after Libor Kozak, who was a surprise inclusion and making his first start since Boxing Day 2013, had flicked on Bunn’s long punt upfield.
Palace never played with any fluidity in the first half but they still appeared dangerous at times. Bakary Sako’s 25-yard strike fizzed inches over the bar and Damien Delaney came agonisingly close to steering Yohan Cabaye’s free-kick beyond Bunn when the Palace defender stuck out a leg and the ball skimmed off his thigh.
Pardew made a change at half-time, replacing Joe Ledley with Connor Wickham, who took over from Sako at leading the line as the Palace manager reshuffled his side, yet it was Villa who seized the initiative early in the second half. Pressing forward and playing with more urgency, Garde’s team had come close to taking the lead in the 52nd minute when Kozak’s low shot took a deflection off Souaré only for Hennessey to turn the ball around the post.
The Welshman’s next contribution was a moment to forget. Aly Cissokho’s low centre was cut out by Delaney and from the corner that followed Hennessey made a pig’s ear of dealing with Lescott’s header, which was straight at him. The ball ended up slipping between Hennessey’s legs after Lescott had towered above Scott Dann and Wickham to win Carles Gil’s corner – and the goalline technology merely confirmed what everyone in the stadium already knew.
Ayew, wriggling between Ward and Puncheon, almost added a second.
Guardian
