Championship: Aston Villa 3-2 Wigan Athletic
- Published
Jack Grealish made his first appearance since the collapse of his proposed transfer window move to Tottenham Hotspur
Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce said his side's dramatic stoppage-time win against Wigan Athletic was testament to the "resilience" of his squad following a turbulent off-field summer for the club.
Birkir Bjarnason scored in the fourth minute of added time as Villa came from behind to stun the Latics in a five-goal thriller.
"We've come through it with a bit of resilience, which is evident after a difficult summer for everybody," Bruce told BBC WM.
"They're a very good side, who caused us a lot of problems, but we've managed to get through.
"To win back-to-back games with all the difficulties we've had, is huge."
Villa suffered a number of financial problems following last season's play-off final defeat by Fulham - a loss which cost them £160m.
However, billionaire businessmen Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris were brought in last month to inject "significant investment".
And, as well as having new signings John McGinn, from Hibernian and Norwegian keeper Orjan Nyland making their debut, Villa also had star winger Jack Grealish still on show after being able to turn down Tottenham Hotspur's deadline bid.
"John McGinn is a player we couldn't buy two weeks ago," added Bruce. "The new owners have blown new life into the club."
New Villa signing John McGinn from Hibernian made a good start to his career in the Midlands
Things started brightly for the home side when skipper James Chester earlier headed Villa in front from a McGinn free-kick on the left.
But Nyland made a mess of a back pass from Mile Jedinak to gift Nick Powell a 41st-minute leveller.
Callum Connolly then headed the Latics in front after the interval with a far-post header from Powell's cross.But, eight minutes later, Latics defender Chey Dunkley put through his own net in a scramble to make it 2-2.
And, from Conor Hourihane's cross, Icelandic international Bjarnason slid in to win it to help Bruce's men maintain their 100% winning start against one of his former clubs.
Villa's victory followed Monday's 3-1 win at Hull City, also one of Bruce's old clubs. And it is the first time Villa have kicked off the season with successive league wins since 1999-00, when they did so in the Premier League under John Gregory.
"We've been behind in both games so far," said Bruce said. "But, we've come back to score three, as we did on Monday, so overall a decent start.
"I have to say to have 34,000 supporters here with the problems we've had, just shows the attraction we still have as a club."
For Paul Cook's Wigan, losing an end-to-end classic which could have gone either way, was a first defeat since promotion back to the second tier in May.
Wigan used two of their new signings, striker Josh Windass and on-loan Sheffield United midfielder Lee Evans, who both came off the bench.
Wigan manager Paul Cook:
"I was happy with all aspects of the game except the result. We wanted to give a good performance against Villa and the players did that.
"But Villa have some quality players and anyone of them can pop up and get a goal.
"We are disappointed as I feel a draw would have been a fair result. The disappointment will drive us on."