It was enough to settle matters and leave the claret and blue half of town delighted and relieved.
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Villa were booed off on Saturday, but asked if his honeymoon period was over, he said: “No, I know what this game is like and a week is long time in football”.
“The performances have been encouraging with a new group of players”. He didn’t know when he was coming on – I didn’t say to him “you’re going to come on in the second half”. It’s all about winning.
He said: “I think we deserved to win by a lot more”.
I’ve seen them rocked back on their heels and far more convincingly second best on several occasions in the last few weeks – yet still pick up a result.
It was, according to Tim Sherwood, all part of the masterplan.
“Well done to him”. Asked whether it was a concern he replied, “Of course, that’s not nice is it? He played well”, Sherwood said after the victory. Villa didn’t have it easy by any means.
After the game road closures were in place to keep the two sets of fans separate as they headed towards local train stations to make their way home.
“It’s a good feeling, it was important for us to win at home”, the former Blackburn striker told AVTV.
Sherwood, who brushed off the leaking of his side, claimed Villa deliberately sat back first half to tire out the visitors and create more room after the break.
The two sides have been separated by a division since Birmingham’s relegation from the Premier League in 2011. As if that wasn’t sweet enough, they knocked Villa out along the way and that still stings down the road in B6.
He seized onto a Demarai Gray through ball and could hardly believe how much time and space he had.
The midfielder threw himself infront of Gestede, on his first start in nearly a month, and then Ashley Westwood in the area but rather than build on the opening Villa wilted.
Scott Sinclair shot straight at Tomasz Kuszczak at his near post in the 38th minute before Leandro Bacuna hit a free-kick over.
“It was a fantastic ball in from the left, the best bit of quality all game really and Gestede comes in and does what he does very, very well with a brilliant finish”.
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Rowett’s side lost 1-0 to a second half Rudy Gestede goal but not before Birmingham had run Villa close in the first half.
