The Villa boss has admitted that Adomah, who set up the late winning goal, should not really have come on.
Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce has admitted that game-changing substitute Albert Adomah should not really have come on as he was not fit to play, as quoted by the Birmingham Mail.
Villa had been frustrated by Fulham for the first 79 minutes of the match at Villa Park on Saturday before Adomah pounced on goalkeeper David Button’s mistake to cross for Jonathan Kodjia to acrobatically score the winner.
Adomah has made six appearances for Villa since his transfer deadline day move from Middlesbrough, starting five of those games, but was demoted to the bench on Saturday as a result of a knock he picked up in the win over Reading in midweek.
However, he was introduced to the action in the 55th minute and 25 minutes later he played a decisive role, seizing on an errant pass from Button and crossing for Kodjia to superbly volley home.
After the match, Bruce hailed the impact of the winger but admitted that he did not expect to be able to put him on the pitch because of his injury concern.
Bruce said, via the Birmingham Mail: “To be fair to him, I didn’t think he had a chance of playing after Tuesday, but he’s played with the ankle.
“You are looking for that bit of spark or a mistake. It was a great ball from Albert.”
That win extended Bruce’s unbeaten start as Villa boss and means that they have recorded back-to-back victories for the first time in 17 months.
Attention will now begin to turn to their most eagerly-awaited game of the season, the short hop across Birmingham to face arch-rivals and Bruce’s old club Birmingham City at St. Andrew’s next weekend.
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