Villa travelled to play the league leaders no doubt bearing the good wishes of the pursuing pack, and on another day might well have come away with some reward for their second half efforts. The home side largely controlled the first forty-five, during which they looked the quicker and stronger, but failed to take a lead into dressing room at half time, and for long periods in the second, Villa held sway, playing some of the best football of their season, but fell victim to a couple of sucker punches and in the end came away with nothing.

Opening exchanges were cagey, with both sides probing to try to determine the other’s strengths and weaknesses. Then, ten minutes in, Danny Walker found himself isolated in an aerial tussle with a Rovers striker who had about a two feet height advantage on him, and needless to say it proved no contest, and the nod down was squared across goal and tapped in from all of two inches. 

This seemed to dent Villa’s confidence, and Rovers continued to use the height advantage they held in most departments to good effect and Ross Baxter had his palms stung a couple of times inside the next quarter of an hour. At this stage, Vila’s attacking efforts were largely confined to the long hopeful punt, and although David Heald battled hard to make something of it, he and his striking partner George Craddock found themselves outnumbered most of the time.  Then, in first half stoppage time, a more measured ball forward from Stuart Bingham was nodded on by Heald, and Craddock stole in behind to glance it past the advancing keeper to give his side an unlikely equaliser.

Villa appeared lifted, indeed inspired by this, and for the first half hour of the second half, they got the ball down and produced some of the best passing football of their season thus far. Ian Kirkpatrick, given a rare opportunity to show what he could do in this company, grabbed it with both hands and proved the catalyst for the Euxton side’s adventurous attacking play. He himself came close to giving Villa the lead when he shot fractionally wide on the end of a probing run, having been well picked out by a Sam Bolton free kick.  Craddock had the ball in the net again in the sixty-fifth minute on the end of another sweeping move, but was just off side when the final pass was made and the strike did not count. 

Then, with fifteen minutes to go, with numbers forward for a dead ball, Villa were caught out by a swift breakaway attack, and although Martin Whewell got back well to produce a saving tackle, referee and assistant both saw it as a penalty, though the video evidence suggests ‘ball first’, but had it been at the other end one would have expected a similar outcome.  Although Baxter makes a speciality of saving spot kicks and got down well, it was despatched with enough power to give him no chance.

Aggrieved by this, Villa pressed even harder, an shortly after with everyone bombing forward, were again caught with insufficient cover and Rovers put the match beyond them with a soft third.

A defeat, yes, but certainly not disgraced. With several players out injured, it gave Mark McDonnell the opportunity to try a couple of things, and in Kirkpatrick found a player able to bring a positive influence to mid field.  Martin Whewell did his case no harm either and is clearly one for the future.

Villa line-up: Baxter, Walker, Davies, L.Chambers, Bolton, Pillay (Whewell 63), Loughlin (Kirkpatrick 49), Atherton, Heald, Craddock (Briggs 70)