Game details
Match: Ipswich Town v Aston Villa
Date: 21st April, 2018
Competition: Sky Bet Championship
Venue: Portman Road
Kick-off: 3pm
Attendance: 20,034 (1,981 Villa supporters)
Weather: 18c, sunny
Scoring summary
Hourihane 25
Grabban 57, 78
Lansbury 82
Analysis
Villa eased past 10-man Ipswich Town in a dominant 4-0 win at Portman Road.
The visitors were already a goal to the good thanks to Conor Hourihane when the Tractor Boys were reduced to 10 men before second-half goals from Lewis Grabban (2) and Henri Lansbury sealed all three points.
The hosts made the brighter start and squandered a glorious opportunity to take the lead with barely five minutes on the clock. Myles Kenlock was in the perfect place to meet a cross that had sailed through the six-yard box but snatched at the chance and the ball dribbled harmlessly wide.
It was Hourihane who opened the scoring with 25 minutes on the clock have seen two earlier effort deflected off target. This time, it was a deflected effort that made the goal: Grabban’s shot coming off a defender then the post before Hourihane nudged the re-bound over the line.
With minutes to go before the break, the home side were reduced to 10 men when Grant Ward caught Neil Taylor with a high tackle and was shown a straight red card.
After two range-finders from Birkir Bjarnason and Josh Onomah early in the second half, it was Grabban who doubled the visitors’ lead just short of the hour mark. Combining strength and technique, he brought a low pass under his spell in the right-hand channel of the box, before easing away from his defender and crashing home a shot off the upright.
After Martyn Waghorn had forced Sam Johnstone to make a routine stop, the claret and blues dominated the remainder of proceedings.
Glenn Whelan, Hourihane, Bjarnason and Onomah all went close before the on-loan Tottenham youngster snaffled up a loose pass and teed up Grabban to net his second of the afternoon.
It was left to Lansbury to add a gloss to the score-line late on, timing his run into the box to perfection to meet Bjarnason’s cross and direct a header into the corner.
Misconduct summary
Ipswich Red Card
Ward 41
Line-ups
IPSWICH TOWN: Bialkowski, Spence, Carter-Vickers, Knudsen; Ward, Skuse, Hyam (Folami 76), Nydam (Connolly 73), Kenlock; Celina (Sears 56), Waghorn. Unused subs: Crowe, Gleeson, Carayol, Smith.
ASTON VILLA: Johnstone; Elmohamady, Chester, Jedinak, Taylor (Hogan 64); Whelan, Hourihane (Lansbury 73), Onomah, Bjarnason; Grealish; Grabban (Adomah 83). Unused subs: Bunn, Bree, Samba, Adomah, Snodgrass.
Officials
Referee: Simon Hooper
Assistant Referee 1: Daniel Robathan
Assistant referee 2: Adam Crysell
Fourth Official: John Busby
