It was flat. It was tense. It was not one for the purists or season highlights.

But it was three points.

Aston Villa laboured past Brighton in a game that never quite caught light. Tempo was slow, rhythm inconsistent, and the usual midfield control absent. Large spells felt like two teams cancelling each other out rather than one asserting itself.

Then came the decisive moment.

A late corner, a near-post run, and Tyrone Mings making sure someone attacked the space properly. In a match short on incision, it took authority rather than invention to break it.

The performance lacked fluency. Brighton limited Villa’s creativity and exposed the absence of key midfield leaders. There were groans at over-elaboration and impatience at predictable build-up. Even the atmosphere reflected it, with noticeable empty seats and tension around ticket pricing bubbling beneath the surface.

But the table does not ask how.

Villa are still third and the Champions League conversation remains real. And at this stage of the campaign, winning without playing well can matter more than anything else.

Ugly at home. Effective when it counted.

UTV

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