Barnsley vs Aston Villa. Sky Bet Championship.
Oakwell StadiumAttendance14,633.
Sunday 17 September 2017 15:04, UK
Aston Villa scored three goals in an away game for the first time in over two years as they eased to a 3-0 Sky Bet Championship win over Barnsley at Oakwell on Saturday evening.
Albert Adomah seized on two defensive efforts in the first half, while Keinan Davis headed his first goal for the Villans in the second half to match the feat last achieved in a 4-0 win against Sunderland in March 2015.
The first came after 19 minutes when a swift break saw Adomah force Tykes stopper Adam Davies into a mistake as he bore down on goal, with Davis the architect of the second when he was felled by Adam Jackson.
Despite Oakwell's vocal opposition to the decision, a penalty kick was the decision and Adomah got his second goal when he smashed his shot to the left of Davies (44).
Davis made it three when he headed in Ahmad Elmohamady's cross early in the second half (55).
A clash of heads between Davis and Jackson immediately following kick-off delayed the start, but the opening exchanges between the two sides were relatively even, with plenty of exciting forays forward.
A perfect example of how to transform defence into attack soon followed; in a few swift seconds, the ball was out of Sam Johnstone's hands and at the feet of Adomah, who slotted home after a defensive mix-up between Jason McCarthy and Davies.
The Tykes continued to look the superior side and found vast swathes of space in which to create chances, but John Terry and James Chester stood strong to nullify several crosses from Brad Potts and McCarthy.
It was another error of judgement that led to Adomah making it 2-0. Davis raced onto a loose ball but was swiftly grounded by Jackson's lunge. Adomah made no mistake from the spot - Oakwell was incensed.
If Tykes fans felt the first two goals were unfair, the third was anything but. As Villa grew in stature, they carved a meaningful chance of their own and youngster Davis headed a well-deserved third 11 minutes after the restart.
Adomah went close to a hat-trick on more than one occasion, but during the last, he squared for Robert Snodgrass following superb chasing of a lost cause from Scott Hogan, but the Scot's curling effort dropped wide of the mark.
Villa stopper Johnstone was pelted with plastic bottles and other objects, but unfortunately for Paul Heckingbottom's men, they could not significantly test the keeper, managing only two shots on target in the match.
Barnsley's influence ebbed away towards the end with the result all-but secured, meaning Steve Bruce's men registered a third clean sheet in succession.
Barnsley boss Paul Heckingbottom: "Lots of things we were really good at but the main issue for us was scoring goals. I though Villa picked our pockets in the first half, scoring two goals arguably against the run of play but we didn't deserve anything ourselves because we didn't look like scoring.
"We've seen before in this league how tough it is to come from a goal behind, and a team like Villa were resolute today and defended very well. We haven't taken points from the game but we've taken things to get better at."
Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce: "We've been threatening but we just haven't been getting the results. You hope that this will be the lift off - I've been saying that we are a decent side but patience is needed sometimes and obviously a result like that helps the cause.
"Fair play to Keinan Davis, I thought he led the line fantastically well. You sometimes need luck and we've had none of it, but that's us unbeaten in six and three clean sheets on the spin, so lets hope that shuts a few people up, for a little while anyway."
Both sides are in Carabao Cup third-round action on Tuesday as Villa welcome Middlesbrough for the second time in a week, while Heckingbottom takes his players to Wembley to do battle with Premier League heavyweights Tottenham.
