da bwin： Aston Villa were put through their paces by Bosnian side Zrinjski in the Europa Conference League on Thursday evening, leaving it to the dying embers to grasp the win at Villa Park.
da esoccer bet： Unai Emery made it clear before the fixture that his team were entering a “must win” game, which the Villans eventually secured after a magnificent 27 shots on goal over the 90 minutes played.
It was John McGinn who broke the deadlock with less than two minutes of added time to play, causing the home crowd to erupt as the Midlands giants claimed their first three points of Group E.
How did Aston Villa play against Zrinjski?
It was a first half inspired by the electrifying energy of Nicolo Zaniolo, who was lauded as “dangerous” by journalist Tom Cowley in an affair that almost saw him clinch his first Villa goal with an audacious overhead kick attempt.
The opening 45 minutes was challenging for the hosts as they struggled to break down Zrinjski, who were superbly organised at the back and absorbed pressure to the frustration of Emery’s side.
A stalemate at the interval caused the Spaniard to make a decisive triple change, bringing on Douglas Luiz, Ollie Watkins and Matty Cash in the bid to fire the rotated squad towards victory.
Villa applied the pressure in continuous waves, which failed to fully break due to the solidity of Krunoslav Rendulic’s inspired squad and charged up goalkeeper Marko Maric who was almost unbeatable between the posts.
From an overturned penalty call in the 55th minute to a clashing of personalities around the hour mark, tensions began to rise within Villa Park, as the hosts were denied time after time by the Bosnians.
While it was McGinn who ultimately snatched the win in the 94th minute, the game was arguably altered at half-time, however, as Emery’s inspired substitutions proved critical to the outcome of the showdown.
How good was Matty Cash against Zrinjski?
Hailed by journalist Luis Miguel Echegaray as a figure that “changed the game” when he was introduced, Cash was formidable down the right flank, and was responsible for crafting the goal for McGinn to finish sublimely.
The Poland international maintained a passing accuracy rate of 95% during the 45 minutes he played, becoming a highly influential part of proceedings with 34 touches and constantly bringing energy to the right channel, via Sofascore.
Recording three key passes and one match-winning assist, the defender was dubbed “outstanding” by podcaster and writer Dan Clarke, echoed by him earning a Sofascore match rating of 7.0 for his second-half cameo.
Aside from being booked for arguing over a heated duel, Cash’s task on the pitch was to inspire and support the attack, which he did expertly as his defensive duties were almost disbanded due to the trajectory of the game.
The most integral part of the night was that Villa got off the mark in the competition, in what is a highly competitive group scenario with all sides now having suffered both defeat and loss after the opening two games.
Up next for the Villans are rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League, with all the hope there for Cash to deliver a performance as electrifying as last night’s was.