Bannan starts, Aston Villa win and leave the relegation zone

Let us not for a moment pretend that this wasn't a massive match. We needed to win and we did. Anything other than a win would have been a disaster, but it didn't happen and all is good.

We also leave the relegation zone and it was also nice to see Bannan start again. But the nicest thing today was that we really did play the ball around a lot more on the floor.

We are still a long way from where we want to be and relegation would mess it all up, but if we can stay up and get the right players in, we need three now, then we really could look to a top half finish next season.

If we can get a new owner and a new CEO, then maybe the season after we can look to be finishing in a higher place, but that is a post for another day.

Today, we needed three points and we got it, that is all that matters. I'm going for a beer.

The players

Guzan, Vlaar, Clark, Baker (Bennett - 79' ), Lowton, Westwood, Sylla, Bannan (N'Zogbia - 71' ), Gabby, Benteke and Weimann.