Cardiff’s late goal last night could be a blessing in disguise for Aston Villa.
Last night Cardiff City suffered a big blow in their efforts to dislodge Wolverhampton Wanderers from the top of the Championship table, as they were only able to pick up a point from their trip to face Sheffield United.
But what may have seemed like two points lost if you are a Wolves fan looking down, was actually a point gained if you are a Cardiff supporter looking over your shoulder. For long periods of the game at Bramall Lane it seemed as if things were not going to go their way, even heading into the final few minutes.
Thankfully for the Bluebirds, Anthony Pilkington popped up with an injury-time goal to ensure that Neil Warnock’s men maintained their comfortable advantage over the rest of the automatic promotion chasers. One of those teams, as most will know, is Aston Villa who currently find themselves down in fourth.
While it has seemed unlikely that Villa would be able to catch Cardiff for a while now, it finally feels like they can re-shift their focus towards the play-offs. A nine-point gap with Cardiff losing to the Blades would have given Villa some hope. But not only does Pilkington’s goal give them some renewed momentum, it also makes it a ten-point gap, meaning they are four games back instead of three.
Villa are always going to push for as many points as they possibly can but, considering they are eight points clear of seventh with a game in hand, they can start managing their resources as they attempt to mastermind a trip to Wembley.
Fulham are slightly closer to Cardiff with 72 points and will likely still see the top two as a viable option, meanwhile the remaining teams below them are still battling to just confirm their position in the top six.
Steve Bruce’s men are in a unique position whereby it is fairly clear where their season will end up, and now it is all about preparing for that. Villa do not have nearly as much experience in the play-off system as the likes of the Cottagers, Derby and Middlesbrough, and they could probably afford to rest some players in the weeks ahead.
Automatic promotion would have been ideal but the Championship is an unforgiving league, and Bruce knows that better than anyone else. It is time for Villa to adapt to the situation because it is pretty favourable for them regardless.
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