*Villa victory comes at cost*

Ipswich Town are discovering to their cost that the Premiership does not allow the same margin for error as the First Division.

Like Charlton and Watford in previous years, Ipswich are well-organised, play bright football and have not been outclassed since winning promotion.

But they are in danger of suffering the same fate as those other two teams - going straight back down to the First Division - unless they learn to make the most of their chances and cut out the basic errors which have cost them dearly so far.

Having lost winnable games against Tottenham and Leicester, Ipswich blew it again despite dominating in terms of possession and chances.

And they must have fancied their chances against a Villa side who had not won a game so far and were further rocked by the loss of leading players Luc Nilis and Gareth Southgate within half an hour.

The injury to Nilis was more serious, a compound fracture of the left leg that could keep him out of action for most of the season.

The Belgian striker collided with Ipswich goalkeeper Richard Wright in the fourth minute, and prompted frantic gestures from the players.

Nilis, signed in the summer from PSV Eindhoven, was carried off on a stretcher with his legs strapped and taken to hospital.

“It was a compound fracture, a really nasty injury, and he went straight to hospital” said Steve Harrison, Villa’s assistant manager.

Southgate jarred his ankle after landing awkwardly and was replaced in the 28th minute, moments after Villa had taken the lead.

The goal began with a misplaced pass from the Ipswich defence, seized by Paul Merson, who transferred the ball to Lee Hendrie for the midfielder to sweep a curling shot into the far corner of goal from the edge of the penalty area.

Villa’s second, nine minutes into the second half, was even worse from the point of view of Ipswich manager George Burley, who watched defender Herman Hreidarsson go missing as Merson whipped in a corner, allowing Dion Dublin to head home from close range without having to jump for the ball.

Both goals came against the run of play, as Ipswich wasted chance after chance, and although substitute striker Marcus Stewart scored from close range in the final minutes, it was too little, too late.

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*The Guardian*
Monday, 11 September, 2000

*Bad break puts pressure on Ellis*

Once Doug Ellis has used his casting vote today to secure his future in office, Aston Villa’s chairman will have an early opportunity to rebut the charge of penny-pinching by angry shareholders who have campaigned against one of the most powerful men in English football.

Ellis is under even more acute pressure to reopen the Villa Park purse to finance a signing after the cruel loss of their Belgian striker Luc Nilis with a horrendous injury in only his fifth game for the club. A double fracture of the right leg, sustained in a collision with Ipswich’s goalkeeper Richard Wright, has put him out until next season.

At the age of 33 there must be strong fears that his distinguished playing career is over.

Even since Nilis’s arrival on a Bosman free transfer from PSV Eindhoven in the summer, John Gregory has been trying to sign another forward to strengthen this department.

Attempts to bring in Celta Vigo’s £10m-rated Benni McCarthy collapsed and since then overtures to Steve McManaman, surplus to Real Madrid requirements, have been spurned.

Those names, and the sums involved, will have heightened expectations among Villa fans which may now be satisfied only by a headline signing.

The Belgian international’s misfortune after only four minutes can be said to have added injury to insult to Villa’s week given Gregory’s outburst against Chelsea and the invective hurled at Ellis from within his own empire.

If the manager was delighted to oversee Villa’s first win of the season - particularly as he lost his captain Gareth Southgate with a jarred ankle not long after Nilis - he was not immediately expressing it, declining to attend the post-match press conference.

Instead his No2 Steve Harrison confirmed everyone’s worst fears about Nilis’s injury which left his right leg contorted and hanging awkwardly. “It’s a compound fracture - a very nasty one -and he was taken to hospital straight away. The two players had their eyes on the ball. Nobody was to blame.”

The collision came as the striker pursued a flick by Dion Dublin into the penalty area.

Wright explained: “He got to the ball before me and hooked it against me. My momentum took me through into him. He was in a lot of pain.”

Play was held up for five minutes - contributing to an extraordinary 13 of injury-time in all.

It said much for Villa’s organisation and eye for opportunity that they withstood this setback, took the lead and then doubled it after losing Southgate on 28 minutes.

Slick passing between four colleagues culminated in Lee Hendrie curling a shot beautifully into Wright’s left-hand corner and there was collective Ipswich embarrassment as Dublin delivered the simplest of headers from Paul Merson’s inswinging corner.

Ipswich rallied bravely towards the end of a long, humid afternoon. Marcus Stewart, smarting at being dropped, made a swift point to George Burley by coming on and scoring cleverly.

Another substitute, David Ginola, was frustrating and frustrated.

Booked for a foul on Fabian Wilnis, he risked a red card by later disputing Andy d’Urso’s failure to punish the same defender’s challenge on him in the area.

It was a clear penalty; once again Ginola’s name had preceded him.