Bruce's View: Aston Villa

Last updated : 21 March 2005 By Brian Cartlidge

Heskey led the forward line superbly against Villa and, albeit fortuitously, opened the scoreing against Blues' arch rivals with a 52nd minutes strike.

"After the last performance at West Bromwich a lot of questions have been asked none more so than me," Bruce said after the 2-0 win at St Andrew's.

"I detected that they had taken the criticism and took their rewards against Villa.

"We were back to our best against Villa and Emile Heskey was outstanding. He is England's best centre-forward of his type and when he plays like he did against Villa he is a very powerful player.

"The save by Maik Taylor from Solano's free-kick was also a very important feature of the game. It was a big, big save and he made another when it was 2-0.

"I said before the game that an individual piece of brilliance or a mistake which decides the outcome.

"After this game Villa's goalkeeper Sorensen will have nightmares again after seeing the Heskey goal. Let's hope it continues.

"I thought we were the better side and deserved our win."