Forgotten former Aston Villa pair celebrate promotion

Two former Aston Villa players have reasons to celebrate after they won promotion to the Sky Bet League One with Mansfield Town.

The Stags become the third and final team to win promotion after both Stockport County and Wrexham went up last weekend. Mansfield’s promotion means they will take their place in the division for the first time since 2003.

Two former Villains; Jordan Bowery and Lewis Brunt helped play their part in Mansfield’s success. Centre-back Brunt has played a total of 34 times with two goals, one assist and 11 clean sheets but has been absent for the last four games. Bowery has played 42 out of the 44 games Mansfield have played with two goals and an assist.

Bowery was at Villa from 2012 to 2014 having joined from Chesterfield. He made a total of 22 appearances for the club but failed to score a goal in 19 league matches. He departed for Rotherham United for an undisclosed fee in 2014 and later went on to represent Oxford United, Leyton Orient, Crewe Alexandra, MK Dons and now Mansfield.

Unlike Bowery, Brunt never made an appearance for the senior team but he did feature heavily for their under-18 and under-21s sides. He played 60 times for the academy teams whilst also having two loan spells at Gloucester City. He departed for Leicester City in 2021 and has made four senior appearances for the Foxes to date including two in the Premier League. Brunt's current deal at the King Power Arena expires at the end of the 2025 season.

They follow in the foot steps of Louie Barry and Rico Richards who confirmed their place in English football’s third tier on Saturday with Stockport. Barry and Richards are both on loan the Greater Manchester outfit and could win the title this weekend. Richards has made nine appearances for the Hatters after joining on loan in January whilst Barry having been out for six months has got nine goals and three assists in 18 games.