*Villa override spot of bother*

John Gregory emerged from the crazy, crazy game with his job safe at least until after Christmas. But if he were being paranoid he would surely believe that his penalty takers were trying to get him the sack.

Three days after being knocked out of the Worthington Cup at West Ham thanks to Gareth Southgate’s miss in the sudden death penalty shoot out, Dion Dublin and Paul Merson contrived to muck up two more opportunities from the spot as Pavel Srnicek thought he had earned his struggling side at least a point with two fabulous saves.

But when bad luck is against you, it is really against you and Ian Taylor’s late headed goal left Wednesday’s manager Danny Wilson wondering if it will be him receiving his P45 within his Christmas card from his chairman.

The vast rows of empty blue seats demonstrated what the home fans thought about coming to watch a team who hadn’t won here in the Premiership for three months.

The away end was also sparsely populated but the visitors managed to muster a chorus of blood-curdling boos every time their former hero Benito Carbone touched the ball, and it wasn’t long before the Italian was soon taking centre stage, pouncing upon a mistake from Srnicek when the goalkeeper’s poor clearance fell at his feet and hitting a speculative shot which the red-faced keeper, desperately back-pedalling, managed to push away.

Wednesday did take the lead on 20 minutes when Danny Sonner earned them a penalty after being brought down by Ugo Ehiogu. Gilles de Bilde converted confidently.

The referee evened up the penalty count in the 32nd minute following a hand-ball from Alan Quinn. But Dublin’s effort was too close to the keeper and Srnicek clawed the effort to safety.

After a long lull the match burst back into life midway through the second half. Villa equalised on 69 minutes with a curling 20-yard shot from Merson and three minutes later Emerson Thome was judged to have held down Dublin and another penalty was awarded.

Up stepped the swaggering Merson and yet, remarkably, Srnicek was again able to beat out the spot kick.

But even he was left powerless in the 82nd minute when Taylor arrived unmarked at the back post to head Merson’s cross into the net.

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*The Guardian*
Monday, 20 December 1999
Match report by Duncan Mackay

*Dublin injury tempers Villa’s delight*

John Gregory watched his Aston Villa team win their first Premiership game for three months and then tempted fate, saying: “Maybe our luck has changed at last.”

Less than 24 hours later he heard Dion Dublin would be out for up to three months with a neck injury.

Just as Gregory and Villa felt they had emerged from their annus horribilis, their top scorer has been taken from them by an injury sustained late in Saturday’s game, in a seemingly innocuous challenge with Sheffield Wednesday’s Gerald Sibon. It turned out to be a broken vertebra that required surgery.

It is a devastating blow to a team which has been over-reliant on the 30-year-old striker, who has scored nine of Villa’s 16 Premiership goals this season.

Dublin’s loss may open yet another chapter in the Stan Collymore saga but Gregory has made it clear he has frozen the wayward striker out of his plans. So the chairman Doug Ellis may, albeit reluctantly, have to open the chequebook once more.

On Saturday a vibrant Villa performed like a team playing for a new manager, not an old one. Perhaps it was because Gregory was out of sight, banished to the directors’ box.

Seldom can the mood at Villa Park have changed so much in the space of a fretful, frenetic 90 minutes. It might have been only a doomed Wednesday who were conquered but in the afterglow Gregory spoke of a new beginning.

It seemed everyone was trying to save Gregory’s job on Saturday, from his players, eager to a fault, to the Football League, later dispensing Worthington Cup justice and cheer. This business diverted Ellis from 90 minutes’ cold-eyed concentration on Villa’s league predicament.

Ellis must put this down as a huge credit against so many recent Gregory debits. And the manager knew it as he dispensed jokes afterwards. Not even Villa’s continuing penalty curse could darken his mood.

Gregory was indebted to his most expensive signing Paul Merson who, in 16 startling minutes, turned the game and possibly Villa’s season. Few players, as Gregory said, could produce the curling shot Merson delivered to break Pavel Srnicek’s acrobatic resistance. And few could have recovered from seeing a powerful penalty saved to continue creating the kind of chance, with a long cross, that produced Ian Taylor’s winning header eight minutes from time.

Add Dublin’s first-half penalty failure, fine saves from Gareth Barry and Merson together with a couple of strikes against the woodwork and the picture of Villa’s dominance is complete. But Wednesday, yet again, felt they deserved more. For so long, encouraged by Gilles de Bilde’s successful penalty, Danny Wilson’s team looked like getting it. Then came Merson.