Steven Gerrard admitted Aston Villa’s players delivered “everything I dreamt of leading into this game” as he opened his tenure with a dramatic 2-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion.
Victory, a clean sheet and three points were all wrapped up late on against the Seagulls as Ollie Watkins broke the deadlock with a fine solo run and strike in the 84th minute before skipper Tyrone Mings added a well-taken second in front of a jubilant Holte End.
It ended a run of five successive Premier League defeats for the Villans and ensured they got back to winning ways.
And head coach Gerrard was a happy man when he spoke to VillaTV post-match.
“Really big day for us,” he said.
“Obviously we’d lost five coming into this game, at times the players did show a few nerves, I thought the crowd did as well.
“But once we settled I thought we were much better second half and a couple of big moments we had to get through in the first half with a big save from our goalie (Emi Martínez) and a big block from Matty Targett.
“And that enabled us to go and win the game in the end.
“Everything I dreamt of leading into this game, the players have produced.”
Gerrard felt a mixture of emotions at the full-time whistle having secured victory in his maiden match in charge.
In doing so, he became the first Villa boss to win their opening match since Gérard Houllier in 2010 and only the third of the club’s previous 12 permanent managers.
But he admits it is only the beginning…
He said: “I think it’s a combination of things; bit of relief, very satisfying, you look at the reaction from the crowd at the end, obviously a completely different feeling that they haven’t felt for a few months.
“But it’s only a start. We need to go and prove now that we can spend more time on the training ground, fix a few little issues that we had in the game, learn, grow, get better and go and back it up with more points next week.”
And the newly-appointed Villa boss had special words of praise for the club’s supporters, who celebrated our two goals at Villa Park in similar fashion to Gerrard himself.
“They didn’t disappoint. I thought the fans were terrific,” he added.
“It’s understandable at times when they get a bit nervous and a bit edgy.
“But the feeling at the end, the celebrations; they know it’s a big win and it’s something for us to build on.
“We won’t get carried away, we’ll work hard, we’ll learn, we’ll grow and we’ll try and back it up next week.”
You can watch Steven’s full post-match interview below…
