Aston Villa managed Steve Bruce has raved about Lewis Grabban following his performance on Tuesday night against Preston.
The Midlands club recoded a 1-1 draw at home in the Championship and remain third in the league table, which meant they missed the opportunity to leapfrog second-placed Cardiff into the automatic positions.
Grabban was used as a substitute at half-time and managed to score from the penalty spot as he made a positive impact in the second period.
The centre-forward has been eased into the action by Bruce following his January arrival, but did score 12 goals with Championship outfit Sunderland earlier in the campaign.
He is a versatile attacker that can play anywhere across the frontline and is competing alongside the likes of Scott Hogan and Keinan Davis for a central position.
Bruce was thrilled with the impact of substitute Grabban and feels he changed the contest for his side.
“I thought he was excellent,” Bruce said after the Preston match, as cited by the Birmingham Mail.
“If there was one player who gave us a spark it was him. The ball for Keinan at the death was a great bit of skill. Unfortunately Keinan has missed it.”
OPINION
Grabban could turn out to be a very shrewd January signing by Bruce and he is certainly a good option in attack. Villa will be frustrated they were unable to go second in the league table and could be four points adrift of Cardiff by the end of Wednesday night, while champions-elect Wolves continue to run away with it. They will need to keep up their winning momentum even if they end up in the play-offs and having several attacking options will seriously benefit them. Hogan has become the first-choice option to spearhead the attack, but there is the option to bring in Grabban alongside him for a two-man attack that could rip apart most Championship defences.