Aston Villa v Hull City match report Saturday 3rd May 2014

Aston Villa eased their relegation worries with a comfortable 3-1 win over a lacklustre Hull City side which had one eye on the FA Cup Final later this month.

Two goals from Andreas Weimman and an Ashley Westwood strike were enough to cancel out a Jordan Bowery own goal to earn The Villans all three vital points.

The atmosphere inside Villa Park was electric as fans held their breath but early nerves were allayed when the home team went ahead within 58 seconds. A ball down the left hand touch line by Ryan Bertrand was collected by Gabby Agbonlahor who appeared to physically push his defender to the ground. Despite protests from the Hull players, referee Mike Dean allowed play to go on and Agbonlahor cut the ball from back to the edge of the box where Weimann swung and missed but luckily Westwood was there to slot the ball home into the bottom left corner past keeper Steve Harper.

The Tigers offered little but  found themselves level on 19 minutes thanks to a clever free kick from Tom Huddlestone. Everyone in the ground - including the Villa players - expected the midfielder to strike the ball from a central position 30 yards from goal but he cleverly played a pass to the left hand corner of the box where midfielder David Meyler cut the ball back and his low cross took a deflection off substitute Jordan Bowery and rolled into the back of the net to silence the home crowd.

Villa responded positively and with four minutes to go to half time, they were ahead again. A corner from the right hand side was swung in by Fabian Delph and a header from Ciaran Clarke was headed up into the air by striker Nikica Jelavic. A goalmouth scramble ensued and Weimann pounced at the far post to head his side in front.

Bowery redeemed himself two minutes into first half stoppage time when he picked the ball up on the left hand corner and delivered an inch perfect cross. Weimann got in front of his marker to glance home to put the game beyond doubt.

The second half saw few chances and the 3-1 final scoreline put Villa on 38 points and ensured Premier League football at Villa Park next season; much to the relief of manager Paul Lambert, his players and the thousands of Villa fans who have supported their team throughout a difficult season.

After the game Lambert praised the fans for sticking with his team. "I thought the crowd were fantastic. They came to support the lads and they were right behind us from the kick-off."
  
Hull manager Steve Bruce described his teams defending as "lackadaisical" and when told his team is two hours away from European football next season he joked , "with defending like that we wouldn't last very long in Europe."