Aston Villa loanee Scott Hogan will be preparing for Sheffield United’s away clash at rivals Sheffield Wednesday.
Six months ago, Steve Bruce was prowling the touchlines at Aston Villa while an out-of-form and completely low on confidence, Scott Hogan was sat behind him on the bench.
Hogan’s struggle to score goals at Villa were largely down to him not suiting Bruce’s robust and direct style, where he believes he was ‘hung out to dry’ [Birmingham Mail] by the four-time promotion winning manager.
Fast forward to today and everything has fallen perfectly into place. Bruce, who was sacked by Villa in October, is now the Sheffield Wednesday manager, while his former striker is on loan at Sheffield United. And there’s the added spice needed for Monday night’s Steel City derby.
Judging by Hogan’s comments on Bruce, his relationship with the 58-year-old did seem to turn a little sour towards the end and there is no doubt that he will be looking to prove him wrong when Sheffield United make the short trip to Hillsborough.
Prior to moving to Villa Park in January 2017, Hogan had scored 21 goals in 36 games for Brentford but managed to score on only 10 occasions under Bruce [transfermarkt].
Since making the loan switch to Chris Wilder’s side in January, Hogan has started one match and that was the 4-0 win over Reading, where he provided an assist and played the full 90 minutes.
It remains to be seen if he is picked to start against Wednesday, but there is no doubt that he will be looking to make his mark if he gets on the pitch.
If truth be told, the stage is set for Hogan to not only score his first goal for Sheffield United but score it against their bitter rivals and do it in front of his former manager.
Cue the really, really angry celebration, punching of the chest, running towards the dugout if he does.
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