Aston Villa lost 2-1 to Nottingham Forest on Saturday evening.
Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce has told the Birmingham Mail that he was impressed with Scott Hogan’s debut performance for the club against Nottingham Forest – and explained why he was substituted.
Villa travelled to the City Ground to take on Forest on Saturday evening, just days after losing 3-0 to Barnsley, with fans desperate for a better performance after making a total of eight January signings.
Jonathan Kodjia had put Villa in front on 19 minutes with a superb curling finish, but that’s as good as it got for Villa as Britt Assombalonga pulled Forest level on the stroke of half time.
Scott Hogan
Jack Grealish was sent off after 78 minutes, setting Villa up for a nervy finish, and they duly lost the game as teenage striker Ben Brereton came off the bench to score an injury time winner for Forest.
Massive risk: Aston Villa fans react on Twitter after Scott Hogan’s deadline day transfer
It’s now just two points in the last six Championship games for Villa, but if there was one bright spot from Saturday’s defeat, it was new signing Scott Hogan.
Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce
The striker, signed from Brentford on deadline day in a deal that could be worth £12million (BBC Sport), made his first appearance for the club, and having hit 14 goals in 27 games for Brentford, fans were excited to see him in action.
The striker showed glimpses of his quality, going close with a superb driving run before forcing a great save from Stephen Henderson in the second half as his pace caused mayhem, but was substituted on 84 minutes.
After the game, manager Steve Bruce spoke to the Birmingham Mail about Hogan’s first game for the club, suggesting that he had a ‘smashing’ debut for Villa – but had to be taken off due to exhaustion having barely played in 2017.
“I feel as if I had to take off Hogan, which I never really wanted to do with his pace,” said Bruce. “But he hasn’t played since January 2 so he was running on empty a bit and there was a worry he was going to pull a muscle so I had to make that change.”
“I thought we were a threat on the counter attack, the pace of Hogan was there for everyone to see. I thought he had a smashing debut, it was a great save from the goalkeeper to deny him the goal,” he added.
What did you think of Hogan’s debut for Aston Villa?
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