Aston Villa's Season-Defining Derby Victory Marred by Pitch Invasion, Fan Abuse

VILLA PARK, BIRMINGHAM — The pre-match atmosphere—streamers, balloons, flags and vocal Midlanders—suggested a classic derby was about to commence between Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion in the FA Cup quarter-finals. But this 2-0 victory for Villa will go down in the annals of football history for all the wrong reasons.

It represented the second time in a week Villa had beaten their regional rivals, and the fans seized the moment to savour the pleasure of beating their neighbours in an all-too boisterous fashion. Two minutes before the final whistle saw a premature pitch invasion—a foolish move by the fans—but that was simply a precursor to the real bedlam that was about to occur.

Free of Paul Lambert's reign of terror; the team scoring goals and playing football; the Holte End back in fine voice, roaring the team to victory. It was all too much to keep a lid on.

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Juxtaposing the heart-warming scenes of goalscorers Fabian Delph and Scott Sinclair being patted firmly on the head for their efforts in the victory were unsavoury scenes involving West Bromwich Albion players. Boaz Myhill reacted badly to a fan's attempt to take a selfie moments after the defeat was confirmed, and Callum McManaman was involved in several altercations with fists most certainly flying.

To think the match would end like this when the first whistle was blown would have been ludicrous to say the least—Villa started stodgily, their mistake-ridden performance epitomised by Matthew Lowton's early struggles—and relied on Shay Given to bail them out twice.

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The 6,500 away fans the Baggies had brought were booming, dominating the atmosphere and dictating the noise from the North and Doug Ellis Stands; the Holte End, on the other hand, saw nothing to sing about and nothing to draw excitement from.

Delph was the sole bright spot for Villa in the first period, initiating attacks by slaloming forward and making tacklers miss. He was the best passer, crosser, dribbler and runner across the first 45 minutes.

But a now-fabled Tim Sherwood half-time team talk appeared to gee the rest of the players up; they came out firing, with Charles N'Zogbia at the heart of it all.

And then it happened: Five minutes after the restart, in a now solely floodlight-lid stadium, captain Delph gave Villa the lead by capping a sweet move. The positivity and enthusiasm, absent from Villa's game in the first half, suddenly epitomised by the unlikeliest of sources in his French colleague.

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He tore forward on the right, dancing between challenges and pulling markers over to him. His low pass across the edge of the box found Delph in acres, who took a touch before firing an unerring finish home.

A muted celebration this time from Tim Sherwood; perhaps indicative of the expectation Villa are already under with him at the helm.

Scott Sinclair sealed the result with a brilliant counter-attacking goal late on, just after Claudio Yacob had been wrongly sent off for a second yellow-card offence. Substitute Jack Grealish—who would also later be wrongly sent off—slipped the Englishman through, who raced home and finished coolly after turning inside.

The second-half noise was stunning, but the overwhelming feeling post-match was not of victory or triumph: it was of regret, for the scenes that marred the win just before and after the final whistle.

"

Been told McManaman got punched by a fan and Myhill punted a fan's phone away when taking a selfie. Bedlam. #AVFC #WBA

— Sam Tighe (@stighefootball) March 7, 2015"

"I didn't know that happened [on fan altercations]," Sherwood admitted to reporters after the match. "But we can't condone the fans entering the field."

"I have to be totally honest,  I can understand their emotions. They've just beaten their local rivals twice in a week, emotions are running very, very high. But if anyone was touched I can't condone that."

The former Tottenham Hotspur boss went on to praise the home crowd for their vociferous support, and "pleaded" with them to stick with the team and lift them when required. 

"They're a magnificent lot" Sherwood stated—except when they're causing trouble. Fans will celebrate long into the night in Birmingham, but the reverberations and consequences of the post-match scenes will provide a nasty kick to an inevitable, brutal hangover.