Not so bright at Villa Park, March. Aston Villa seemed to switch off for season-end while they still had something to play for - namely Europe, at the time - and the results consequently dipped. And then some.
More of that later. I had a feeling after the drubbing by Manchester United that Villa might just have been beaten into waking up.
All credit to Martin O'Neill and the players, they proved me absolutely right in a game which could so easily have gone wrong.
Villa turn on the style
With Villa in terrible form and Bolton Wanderers visiting in the throes of a relegation battle, many Villa fans expected the worst. O'Neill's side had little to play for, a situation of their own making. And in that position, Villa tend to get rolled over. Sunderland proved this in the previous home game.
But with a kicking from United fresh in the memory, it seemed that the players decided to remember what has made them so exciting to watch for large parts of this season. From the first whistle, the team just clicked. It was thrilling to watch, Villa were in fine attacking, flowing rhythm, and Bolton simply couldn't cope. In all honesty, we could have had ten.
Ashley Young began a brilliant performance in his new floating role by skipping past Bolton's right back with such cheek that Cristiano Ronaldo himself would have been impressed. A perfect cross found skipper Gareth Barry, who thumped a header past Jaaskelainen.
The goal seemed to launch Barry into a superb captain's performance, the likes of which we've not seen from him for months. Combined with the new-look midfield system, netting in such style turned Barry into the quality player we all know he is. He pinged the ball around like nobody's business, got stuck in, and when Barry's on fire, Villa are on fire.
The second goal will be talked about at Villa Park for years, and had it been scored by Arsenal we would be hearing about it in the press constantly at the moment. It was magical, aggressive, lightning counter-attacking, one-touch football at its very, very best. As the ball made its way into the box, Gabriel Agbonlahor was not the favourite to win the ball, but he nabbed his first goal in 2008, showing great pace and killer instinct to beat his man and flick the ball past the goalkeeper with the outside of his right foot.
Cue Villa Park party.
Gareth Barry grabbed a fortuitous third, before substitute and cult hero Marlon Harewood escaped a flimsy offside trap to tuck a composed header into the corner. Villa had scored four yet again, and the season might just end with a bang.
Midfield shake-up
But the result was not the most exciting thing about the Bolton game. The performance was excellent. Stiliyan Petrov and Wilfred Bouma played their best games so far for the Villa, and Gareth Barry and Ashley Young were both hard-working and incisive.
The new-look midfield, though, was the key. Villa's form has been stale, but O'Neill dropped Shaun Maloney and re-jigged the set-up in the middle of the park, and it worked a treat.
Stiliyan Petrov was exceptional in his position at the base of the diamond, putting in a perfect pivot performance behind Gareth Barry and Nigel Reo-Coker. Petrov tackled and passed brilliantly, and played with a bunch of energy. Reo-Coker put in a decent enough shift for once, and Barry was great for the first time in ages.
Ahead of that trio, Ashley Young played a free role, popping up on both flanks and in the middle, to brilliant effect. Of course, he was at his most deadly on the left.
Month of disappointment
After picking up a hard-earned but ultimately heartbreaking point at Arsenal, Villa embarked upon their most disappointing set of performances of the season, with the results to match. The draw with Middlesbrough and defeat to Sunderland were the worst 180 minutes of football I've seen at Villa Park under O'Neill, and signalled the end of our competitive interest this season.
Between them, two shocking errors from Scott Carson confirmed a disappointing loss at Fratton Park. At the end of March, while I was in Barcelona trying desperately to avoid all contact with the football world, Villa slumped to their customary hammering at Old Trafford, this time 4-0. I still know next to nothing about that match. Let's keep it that way.
Acorns
Finally, rumours abound that Villa are set to shun sponsorship money for a year or two, preferring to emblazen their shirts with the logo of the local Acorns Hospice, a definite pet charity of the club.
Everyone knows that Barcelona have done a similar thing with Unicef, but let's face it Unicef are hardly a local hospice. This would be ground-breaking.
Of course it is a commercial decision too. Firstly, the positive publicity would be voluminous and priceless. Secondly, this is a chance to support a local charity while implementing a plan for success. If, in three years' time for example, Villa were in the Champions League, the sponsorship deal possible would be far more useful than the relatively small contribution a commercial sponsor would make currently.
Good PR, plus success on the pitch, equals a better deal in the long run. Simple. Beautiful.
Next up, Derby away. Then some amateur prison side is visiting Villa Park on April 20th. Joy.
Come on you Lions!
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