Aston Villa support will never forget bizarre Steve Bruce incident v Preston - It was a turning point | OneFootball

Villa fans won't forget this moment

The 2024/25 FA Cup quarter-finals see Preston North End take on Aston Villa for the first time in over six years.

Villa are looking to end a 29-year barren run without a major trophy to their name, whilst Paul Heckingbottom's side are competing at this stage of world football's most decorated cup competition for the first time since 1966.

However, there was a three-year period where the Lilywhites and West Midlands outfit faced off as equals in the Championship, with North End also finishing above Villa by virtue of goal difference in the 2016/17 season.

Regardless, the status of the B6 outfit in comparison to many of their divisional rivals meant the pressure was always on those in the Villa Park hotseat to turn the tide.

Steve Bruce was able to do just that in his first year-and-a-half in charge, despite losing to Fulham at Wembley Stadium in May 2018. However, just five months later, one of the EFL's most successful managers' fate at the club would be sealed in the most bizarre fashion against North End, in what ultimately proved to be a major cornerstone in Villa's recent history.

Steve Bruce's Aston Villa fate was sealed after dramatic Preston North End encounter

After losing the first league meeting between the two sides since 1974 - which also spelled the end of Roberto Di Matteo's time in charge of the Villans - the Second City outfit then went three games without defeat against Preston.

However, by the time the first clash of the season between the sides in 2018/19 came around, Bruce's men were sitting in 15th place after a summer of potential extinction prior to NSWE's takeover of the club - albeit just two points off the play-offs, whilst North End cropped up the table with a measly five points and one win from the first 10 games.

Despite suffering an inconsistent start to the season, this was a Villa side which was littered with established Championship and high-potential stars such as Tammy Abraham, Jonathan Kodjia, John McGinn, Jack Grealish and James Chester among others.

However, drama would ensue prior to kick-off, with a supporter hurling a cabbage in the Villa boss' direction, to the bemusement of everyone within the 27,331 crowd and on social media.

"To say it's disappointing is an understatement for a club like this, (the cabbage was thrown) before we had even started," Bruce said post-match.

His team would cruise into a 2-0 lead prior to the half-time whistle thanks to goals from Kodjia - who headed home an Ahmed Elmohamady cross - before Abraham slotted home from close range, with many thinking the encounter would be done and dusted.

However, momentum soon swung in favour of the Lancashire side as Chester, the Villa captain, was dismissed on 54 minutes for a late tackle on Lukas Nmecha, with former Bodymoor Heath academy graduate Daniel Johnson reducing the arrears from the spot.

With 79 minutes on the clock, free-kick specialist Paul Gallagher drew Alex Neil's side level, before Louis Moult completed a dramatic turnaround with four minutes to go.

However, that wasn't the end of the drama, with Everton loanee Yannick Bolasie poking the ball past Chris Maxwell in the third minute of stoppage time, before Johnson was adjudged to have brought down Birkir Bjarnason inside the box three minutes later.

To the surprise of everyone, Glenn Whelan put himself forward to complete yet another swift turnaround in the contest, but Maxwell was on hand to deny the Irish midfielder and preserve a point for Preston.

A point, ironically, moved Villa up to 12th in the Championship table whilst Preston moved level on points with Ipswich Town and Millwall inside the bottom three, but it wouldn't be enough to save Bruce's job.

The man with four promotions from the second tier into the Premier League with Birmingham City and Hull City was dismissed the following day, being swiftly replaced by boyhood Villa fan Dean Smith, who joined from divisional rivals, Brentford.

Aston Villa have come on leaps and bounds ever since

Whilst Preston have remained an established and steady Championship side without regularly threatening to gatecrash the play-off and promotion pictures, the Midlands club have enjoyed a rapid rise since their final season in the division, despite the occasional mishap.

Smith was able to galvanise a new-look squad which had been decimated by injuries shortly after Bruce's departure, winning a club-record 10 consecutive games which secured a play-off place, eventually defeating Derby County 2-1 in the final at Wembley.

Upon their return to the Premier League, the club would find it tough going despite hefty investment and an EFL Cup final appearance. But, an accumulation of 8 points from 12 saw the Villans maintain their top-flight status on the final day of the season against West Ham United in June 2020.

Two seasons of mid-table obscurity then followed amid the £100m sale of Grealish to Manchester City, which was reinvested into the likes of Emi Buendia, Danny Ings and Leon Bailey, before a tumultuous period under Steven Gerrard followed Smith's dismissal after a run of five successive defeats in the Autumn of 2021.

However, Villa supporters are currently in the midst of the club's best period for many a year, with Unai Emery continuing to transform the club's fortunes and future, which the Spaniard has done so ever since his arrival in November 2022.

A sea change in momentum saw the Lions reach the UEFA Conference League after winning 13 Premier League games out of 20, going on to reach the semi-finals of the competition before losing out to Olympiacos 6-2 on aggregate.

That defeat did very little to dampen the mood in B6, as Villa returned to European football's elite stage for the first time since 1983, and on the sixth anniversary of their dramatic meeting with North End, saw off Bayern Munich at Villa Park courtesy of a Jhon Duran wonder-strike.

Emery's side also defeated BSC Young Boys Bologna, RB Leipzig and Celtic and drew with Juventus in the league phase as they made the top eight, before subsequently gaining revenge on Club Brugge in the Round of 16 and setting up a mammoth two-legged tie with French giants, PSG in April.

Therefore, despite it being not too many moons since North End faced off against Villa in their last meeting - a 1-1 draw at Deepdale on December 29th 2018 - a victory against the side in Claret and Blue on Sunday would represent one of the biggest scalps in the FA Cup