Aston Villa kept alive their play-off hopes with a hard-fought 1-0 win over local rivals Birmingham yesterday, with Jack Grealish the matchwinner.

The game was overshadowed after a Birmingham fan launched a cowardly attack on the 23-year-old when he ran on and punched Grealish.

However, the attacking midfielder didn't let that impact him, as he went on to silence the home support by scoring the only goal of the game.

As a local lad, it will have been a dream for Grealish to score the winner at St. Andrew's for the team he supports and to do it in such circumstances will be even sweeter.

He displayed a lot of character and mental strength to respond to such an awful incident, remaining focused on the game and he didn't let it impact him.

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If anything, the abuse from the stands and the assault may have made Grealish even more determined to do beat Blues and he took control of the game for Villa on his own.

Additionally, it highlighted once again just how important the academy graduate is to Dean Smith's side, who have won back-to-back games since the star man returned from injury.

Even though Grealish's ability has never really been in question, there were doubts about his productivity.

So, to grab such an important goal, with Villa knowing they can't afford to drop many more points to reach the top six, is a great way to answer any critics.

Yesterday will live long in the memory for Grealish and his family, and the challenge now will be to maintain his excellent form for the remainder of the campaign as he is key to Villa's promotion hopes.