SO nice to see you again…not.
Knowing John McGinn, hearing boos from the same fans who used to cheer him would only have made him more determined to lead Aston Villa to a dominant win back in his homeland in their Europa Conference League play-off clash.
GettyOllie Watkins bagged a hat-trick against Hibs[/caption]
ReutersJohn McGinn was involved in two of Villa’s five goals[/caption]
You’d be forgiven for thinking that after the first 15 minutes, the hosts had a decent chance of pulling off a shock result but by the end of the 90 minutes the 5-0 scoreline seemed fair.
England international Ollie Watkins made sure that never came to fruition however, firing three goals past a helpless David Marshall in the Hibs goal.
Aston Villa took the lead after 17 minutes, through the head of Watkins.
Slack defending at a corner allowed the striker to nod home a second after 33 minutes and from there, the Easter Road men looked to be facing an uphill climb to say the least.
Hibs were all but out of it three minutes before half-time, with Diego Carlos putting the Villans on easy street in Leith.
Little more than two minutes after the restart, Watkins had his hat-trick but Unai Emery’s men weren’t done there as they piled on the misery.
Easter Road had long started to empty by the time Douglas Luiz dispatched a penalty past David Marshall, as the travelling fans from the West Midlands sang “We’re Aston Villa, we’re taking the p**s.”
Early on, Hibs looked lively in particular through Martin Boyle on the wing.
But the best they could muster were half-chances or crosses into the box that weren’t connected with.
Then McGinn, Watkins & co started turning on the style.
For the first, McGinn found Lucas Digne out wide and his terrific cross was glanced home by Watkins.
The second came from a corner as the home side switched off and watched as Watkins stole in at the back post for an easy header.
McGinn was again involved for the third, with his inch-perfect through ball releasing who picked out Carlos.
At the break, Lee Johnson couldn’t have asked for much more than to keep things tight and avoid an embarrassing scoreline.
Three minutes later he had his head in his hands.
Villa broke on the counter attack and again an excellent cross from Digne, this time along the deck, found Watkins in the box to pounce and poke it past Marshall.
There was a feeling of inevitability when Lewis Stevenson fouled sub Bertrand Traore midway through the second half.
Douglas Luiz stepped up to score his second penalty of the season, sending Marshall the wrong way from 12 yards out.
Villa continued to press and could have scored more.
Throughout the match, the closest Hibs came was a volley from Elie Youan just after Watkins scored his third goal and as the subs rolled on and off, the tempo of the game dithered away in the last 20 minutes or so.
For Villa, they can use next week’s return leg to give some fringe players minutes and focus on domestic action, with Liverpool on the schedule a few days later.
The Birmingham club will be targeting a run in this competition, with boss Emery a serial winner on the European stage with the likes of Sevilla and Villarreal.
For Hibs, their time in the Conference League was short and not-so-sweet and Johnson will now hope their form in the Premiership takes an upturn too after a shaky start to the league campaign.
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