Aston Villa vs West Brom result: Dwight Gayle sees red to lose control of Championship play-off

Aston Villa 2-1 West Brom: For Aston Villa two goals in four minutes at a crackling Villa Park will send them to The Hawthorns on Tuesday with a wave of momentum

After Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur rewrote the manual for two-legged football matches, a single-goal lead at the halfway stage probably means next to nothing.

For Aston Villa, though, two goals in four minutes at a crackling Villa Park will send them to The Hawthorns on Tuesday with a wave of momentum and an advantage which, by conventional standards, gives them a significant head start in midweek.

Conor Hourihane’s long-range strike and Tammy Abraham’s penalty turned the first leg of this Championship play-off semi-final on its head and spared the blushes of Glenn Whelan, whose horrible error had combined with Dwight Gayle’s superb finish to hand Albion a half-time lead.

Gayle’s late red card for two bookable offences rules the visitors’ most potent threat for the second meeting and, added to injuries for Craig Dawson and Stefan Johansen, compounded a miserable second half for James Shan’s side and a perfect one for Villa manager Dean Smith.

For much of the tie, Albion had camped behind the ball, played on the break and appeared likely to take a slender lead back across the West Midlands for Tuesday’s second leg.

Dwight Gayle fires West Brom in front at Villa Park (Getty)

By the final whistle, though, they looked exhausted and annoyed that the lead had been allowed to slip and, with Gayle suspended for Tuesday after a needless dismissal and Dawson and Johansen potentially ruled out, Shan’s resources appear painfully stretched.

Not even three minutes had elapsed when Johansen attempted to rattle Jack Grealish with a late challenge.

And a minute later a momentary lapse from Albion might have handed Villa the opening goal. They failed to stop John McGinn collecting a short corner from Grealish but McGinn’s cross was headed over by Glenn Whelan.

On 11 minutes, though, it took a combination of Jed Steer and the frame of the goal to deny the visitors the opener as the Villa goalkeeper pushed a delicate effort from the edge of the area from Jay Rodriguez onto his crossbar.

When Tammy Abraham sent an overhead kick over the crossbar for Villa on 15 minutes it prompted an inquest in the Albion defence, but a minute later the debate was on hold as the Baggies were handed the lead.

From a comfortable position inside his own half, Whelan’s dreadful touch presented possession to Gayle and the striker darted between Axel Tuanzebe and Tyrone Mings, Villa’s centre-backs, before planting a shot into the bottom corner.

With tension overriding quality, the remainder of the first half was a story of Villa’s possession against Albion’s resolute defending and planned counter-attacks.

The result was a nervous half-hour lacking clear chances.

Early in the second half, Johnstone made a smart, near-post save from Abraham, but the pattern of proceedings was largely unaltered with Albion happy to defend their lead with Matt Phillips and Jay Rodriguez, their wide forwards, often dropping back to supplement their five defenders.

Aston Villa turned the game on its head (Getty)

Gayle was fortunate to escape a red card when, less than a minute after being booked for time-wasting, he clattered into Grealish with a late challenge but escaped a second caution.

When Kyle Bartley headed a Chris Brunt corner across the face of goal, West Brom sniffed a second goal but none of his colleagues was able to turn the ball home.

Instead, with 15 minutes remaining, they found themselves pegged back as Villa’s pressure finally told thanks to Hourihane.

The home side kept alive a set piece, West Brom got men behind the ball but failed to put pressure on it, Grealish rolled it back to Hourihane and the Irishman rifled a left-footed shot from outside the penalty area past a helpless Johnstone.

Just four minutes later, Villa had the advantage as Grealish’s feet in the penalty area proved too quick for Gibbs, whose sliding challenge sent the Villa captain to ground and left referee Graham Scott with little option but to award the spot-kick.

Predictably, Abraham kept his cool to find the bottom corner.

If Albion’s day had not become depressing enough, Gayle then slid in clumsily on Steer in an attempt to meet a right-wing cross and found himself facing a second yellow card.

It steepened the mountain his side face on home turf but, after a ridiculous footballing week, neither Shan nor Smith will view the contest as done.

Aston Villa (4-3-3): Steer; Elmohamady, Tuanzebe, Mings, Taylor; McGinn, Whelan (Hourihane 67), Grealish; Adomah (Green 67), Abraham, El Ghazi (Kodjia 90). Substitutes: Kalinic, Hause, Jedinak, Kodjia, Davis.

West Brom (3-4-3): Johnstone; Dawson (Mears, HT), Bartley, Hegazi; Holgate, Johansen (Morrison 85), Brunt, Gibbs; Phillips (Murphy 66), Gayle, Rodriguez. Booked: Holgate, Hegazi, Gayle, Gibbs. Sent off: Gayle. Substitutes: Bond, Townsend, Montero, Field.

Referee: Graham Scott

Attendance: 40,754