Steve Bruce and his Aston Villa side are within touching distance of a ticket in a two horse race at Wembley as they host Middlesbrough at Villa Park this evening.
They sealed a narrow 1-0 win at the Riverside in the first leg of their Championship play-off semi-final courtesy of the bearded Australian Mile Jedinak last week.
Bruce was upbeat ahead of a monumental occasion in the area when speaking to BBC West Midlands.
"We're at Villa Park, I'm sure it'll be rocking, it should be a wonderful atmosphere,” he said.
"We've got an advantage, the crowd can hopefully play their part, but it's a big tie still ahead."
It’s a big tie, too, for Tony Pulis and his Middlesbrough side. He’s aiming to overhaul a narrow deficit and ascended straight back into the Premier League while two of his former sides including West Brom, who fired him during last season, come back down the other direction.
He’s told BBC Radio Teeside that, for him, what’s crucial is: “that we turn up and we're a little bit more clinical in the final third - that was the only real negative, apart from conceding from a set play, of the game on Saturday.”
We could see this one playing out in cagey, cagey fashion and want to get the eventuality of a low-scoring affair on side.
Backing the first half to be scoreless at 11/8 is one way to do that and it’s an attractive approach and price to us. We’ll make that our only play.
