Aston Villa midfielder John McGinn was thrilled to end his six-month Premier League goal drought while hailing Ollie Watkins’ “fantastic” assist during last night’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester City, speaking to the club’s official website.
The footballing world was a very different place the last time McGinn found the net wearing claret and blue.
In October, no-one was talking about the European Super League, City were 14th in the table, and Virgil van Dijk was still the talismanic presence at the heart of a title-chasing Liverpool side.
Van Dijk endured a day to forget during the infamous 7-2 defeat at Villa Park half a year ago, of course.
McGinn scored the third of the game on that fateful Sunday night and few would have expected, back then, it would take so long for the Scotland international to find the net again.
But, inside just 20 seconds against Pep Guardiola’s usually faultless Man City side, McGinn fired home brilliantly following an intelligent Watkins cross.
The wait, after so, so long, was over.
“It has been bugging me. I’ve been trying so hard to get on the scoresheet. It’s been happening for Scotland but not for Villa,” says McGinn who, strangely enough, has scored ten times in his past 14 international outings.
“Ollie was fantastic for the goal down the left-hand side and it was something we worked on. We probably didn’t do it enough. We didn’t build on it and do the same thing.
“I’m glad to have ended the goal drought but I would have swapped it for a positive result.”
First-half strikes from Phil Foden and Rodri ensured McGinn’s early strike counted for little in the end, however, as City moved to within three games of the title.
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