Aston Villa vs Derby: Villains survive nervy finale to edge Derby in Championship play-off final and clinch promotion to Premier League
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Your support makes all the difference.Follow live action from the Championship play-off final at Wembley as Aston Villa and Derby chase a golden opportunity to achieve promotion to the Premier League.
After a tense start, Anwar El Ghazi gave Villa the lead with a diving header on the stroke of half-time, courtesy of a fine cross from Ahemd Elmohamady. John McGinn then doubled Dean Smith’s side’s lead, outleaping Derby keeper Kelle Roos to put Villa firmly on course for victory.
But Martyn Waghorn sparked a Rams’ fightback, diverting Jack Marriot’s shot into the bottom corner with just under ten minutes to play. Yet despite a nerve-riddled finale, Villa held on to clinch promotion to the Premier League.
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The players take to the pitch after walking past a MASSIVE trophy.
Kick-off is just minutes away
Aston Villa 0-0 Derby
2: McGinn tries to get behind Cole, but the former England defender has seen this before and uses his experience to draw a free-kick inside his own penalty area.
Aston Villa 0-0 Derby
5: Aston Villa win the first corner of the game and it almost results in the first goal!
The delivery from the right goes through the Derby penalty area and falls to Tuanzebe, who can't sort out his feet and get a good strike at goal.
That's definitely one that you do not want falling to your central defender. If Abraham is in that position, we could well be talking about the opening goal right now.
Aston Villa 0-0 Derby
7: Villa go close again!
Roos' poor clearance is picked up by Villa and they quickly work the ball to Grealish, who fires well over from a central position just outside the box. You would normally back him to hit the target from that position.
All Villa in the opening exchanges.
Aston Villa 0-0 Derby
10: Bennett seeks his first chance to get behind the Aston Villa defence but Mings' impressive speed is equal to that of the Derby forwards' and he calmly deals with the situation and gets Villa up the pitch.
Aston Villa 0-0 Derby
It's been a tense and cagey opening 15 minutes at Wembley, with Villa having the better chances so far.
Aston Villa 0-0 Derby
14: Ghazi glides through several Derby challenges and works his way into the box. Things would be uncomfortable for Derby had Keogh not timed a sliding challenge to perfection.
The resulting corner again goes straight through the penalty area. Derby need to get their act together at set-pieces.
Famous faces
Prince Harry and David Cameron are both in attendance to watch their beloved Aston Villa this afternoon, although the latter may be checking on West Ham transfer news throughout...
Aston Villa 0-0 Derby
Things have settled here and both sides seem to be taking it in turn to keep safe possession before over-hitting a cross, or something like that.
Which leads us nicely to the supporter face paint competition. This Derby fan edges it for me due to the sheer ridiculousness of it.
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