Aston Villa boss Steve Bruce sees positives after "toughest start"

The boss acknowledges a return of five points from the first five Championship games has fallen some way short of expectations.

But Bruce took encouragement from a improved week leading up to the international break, which saw Villa record back-to-back victories with four-goal hauls and ended with a first away point of the campaign at Bristol City on Friday night.

“It has been the most difficult start I can remember in 20 years,” said Bruce. “We seem to have played a lot of games away from home. We have been travelling up and down a lot of motorways - even our bus broke down after the cup game at Colchester!

“It’s been mixed. But I am convinced we are on the right track. I think we are better.”

Bruce faced questions about his future with the season barely a fortnight old after Villa slumped to defeats at Cardiff and Reading.

And though he acknowledges there is ground to be made up on the early season pacesetters, the boss feels there are positives to be found in the bigger picture and believes cloud of the club’s painful 2015/16 relegation campaign has finally begun to lift.

“I think there are only two players involved on Friday night who were part of the relegation squad,” he said.

“It was important for them, in their careers, to move on and get away the cloud which has hung over the place for too long. In that respect we are better.

“If I am honest I did not expect the vultures to circle as quickly but I suppose it is the manner, which I understand.

“I am under no illusions anymore. When you are up against it you have to batten down the hatches, get on with it and try and ride the storm.

“Thankfully, we have had a good week, which keeps the vultures away, for a while.”