Match Reports

country flag The Championship Round 1
Hull City 1 - 3 Aston Villa
Mon 06 August 2018 19:45

Hull City

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Game Report

Highlights

Aston Villa got off to a stunning start to the season with a 3-1 win at Hull coming from behind to claim victory. Evandro gave the Tigers an early lead but this was a very poor performance from Nigel Adkins' side. Villa levelled soon after through Tommy Elphick while second half Ahmed Elmohamady and Alan Hutton goals gave Steve Bruce's side a comfortable win after a summer of problems.

Detail

Villa only signed two players over the summer months and this was the same side as last season. Jack Grealish was given possibly his final Villa appearance with potential for him to leave in the coming days. For Hull, Eric Lichaj, Reece Burke, Jordy de Wijs and Todd Kane made debuts but this looked a severely weakened side.

Hull actually started reasonably well with Evandro punished a poor punch by Jed Steer to score from the edge of the area with only seven minutes on the clock.

But Villa were level on 14 minutes as Elphick was left unmarked to head in from a Grealish corner.

It was all Villa in the second half as Conor Hourihane hit the bar with a free kick before Elmohamady took advantage of a dreadful clearance by David Marshall to put the visitors in front on 70 minutes.

Just five minutes later and Hutton waltzed through a static Hull defence to score a rare goal and put the game beyond doubt.

Grealish had an excellent performance for Villa but it remains to be seen whether he leaves by Thursday or not with Tottenham lurking.

Summary

Villa will be pleased to put their tough summer behind them but this was only one win and they still seem to be a long way behind other clubs. Hull were desperate at the back and this will be a big worry for boss Nigel Adkins.

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