Full Time: Hull City 1-3 Aston Villa
Aston Villa capitalised on Hull City making a host of errors to start their Championship campaign with a vital away win.
Hull did make a good start to the game when they led through Evandro in the seventh minute, but Villa levelled within seven minutes. Tommy Elphick glanced an unmarked header off a devilish cross from Jack Grealish.
In a match low on quality, both sides struggled to carve out chances in possession. However, two mistakes from Hull in the space of five minutes in the second half handed Villa a two-goal lead, which was enough for them to wrap up the points.
Here’s how the Aston Villa players fared on the night:
Aston Villa Player Ratings
Jed Steer (7)
Steer couldn’t do much to stop Hull City’s goal but made two good saves to keep his team in the game.
Alan Hutton (8)
Hutton was defensively astute and thoughtful. He scored a brilliant goal to virtually seal the points for Villa.
James Chester (7)
Chester was typical in his performance, making tackles and interceptions to stop the opposition attacks.
Tommy Elphick (7)
Elphick might have saved Hull’s goal had he been a bit more committed. However, he redeemed by scoring a well-taken equaliser.
Neil Taylor (6)
Taylor was diligent in defending spaces but couldn’t do much in the attacking side of the game.
Ahmed Elmohamady (7.5)
Scored a goal against his former club, however, was wasteful despite getting into decent positions.
Glenn Whelan (8)
Whelan exhibited grit and determination to win every battle in the midfield. A sort of performance which allows others to do their roles too.
Connor Hourihane (6)
Hourihane had a quiet game until he setup Elmohamady for Aston Villa’s second goal of the night.
Albert Adomah (5)
Adomah couldn’t impact much from the left-wing position. However, he had the awareness to track back and help the defence out.
Jack Grealish (7)
Set up the equaliser with a lovely cross for Elphick and looked dangerous every time he was on the ball.
Jonathan Kodjia (6)
Kodjia ran the channels well and held up the ball to get the team up. He tried to do too much at times, which needs to be ironed out soon.
Substitutes
Andre Green (7)
Green replaced Adomah after 67 minutes and brought pace in wide areas, which troubled the Hull defence.
Rushian Hepburn-Murphy (7)
The striker came on after 77 minutes and helped to stretch the defence by making runs in behind.
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Birkir Bjarnason (N/A)
Came on after 83 minutes to replace Grealish and shore up the midfield.