Jordan Strike Ends Villa Famine

As Jordan Ayew stepped up with 90 minutes on the clock and the chance to hand Aston Villa a first away win in 437 days, Steve Bruce turned his back.

The new manager could not bear to watch — plenty of the travelling supporters at the Madejski Stadium probably felt like doing the same. That's what form as luckless as Villa's can do.

They needn't have worried though, Ayew took a step, stuttered, and put the ball into the bottom-right corner to spark wild scenes behind the goal.

Scenes so wild that, at full-time, Bruce's name was widely sung as he conducted the away end.

The appointment of a former Birmingham City manager was unpopular a week ago — not so much now.

'I never thought I'd be hearing that, would you?' Bruce said of the 4,030-strong away contingent's post-match tune.

'I think they understand that whatever's gone on in the past is the past, now I've been given the task of turning this great club around.'

'You have to pay special mention to the supporters in the last 10 minutes. They breathed life into the lads and thankfully with a little bit of quality that we've got, we've done it.'

Until Ayew's late intervention, Villa had looked on the way to a ninth draw of a drab start to life in the Championship. Instead, life in the Bruce revolution is looking up with a first win in 11 matches.