Aston Villa captain Jack Grealish was attacked by a spectator in disgraceful scenes at St Andrew’s – before scoring the winner to beat Birmingham.
The midfielder showed incredible character and maturity to earn a 1-0 derby win after being knocked to the ground by a man in the first half.
The Football Association will await the referees’ report before taking action with the EFL condemning the violence. The man will never set foot inside St Andrew’s again, Press Association Sport understands.
Grealish recovered to score a 67th minute winner and keep Villa’s fading Sky Bet Championship play-off hopes alive, leaving them four points behind the top six.
Grealish was at the heart of the action from the start and Maikel Kieftenbeld was booked after a rash tackle on him before Jacques Maghoma shot straight at Jed Steer in a frantic opening.
Villa’s skipper was then poleaxed by a supporter while in the Birmingham area having won a corner.
The 23-year-old’s reaction in not retaliating deserved instant credit and he tried to shake off the shock, threading an excellent pass for Anwar El Ghazi to be denied by Lee Camp’s fine save after 22 minutes.
There was little quality in a scrappy and frantic first half with St Andrew’s stunned by what had happened to Grealish.
But two minutes later Grealish silenced St Andrew’s when he collected Neil Taylor’s pass to shoot across Camp and find the bottom corner from 16 yards.
Adams wanted a penalty soon after and Villa’s Conor Hourihane hit the bar from the edge of the box with 13 minutes left.
