ASTON Villa boss Steve Bruce admits he got his team selection all wrong at Wanderers… then blamed the weather!

The former Manchester United defender says his gameplan would have been different had the snow storm not descended upon Winter Hill an hour before kick-off.

Villa – who started the day in third place in the Championship - were sunk by Adam Le Fondre’s first-half goal and failed to get to grips with the icy conditions.

“If I had seen the snow come down like it was I might have picked a different team,” Bruce said.

“It was a glorious afternoon when we left the hotel but by the time the players came in from the warm up there was two inches of snow about.

“It was difficult in the conditions. It wasn’t a night for wingers, they just could not run with the ball.”

Phil Parkinson thanked the Macron’s ground-staff for keeping the surface playable.

“Me and Steve (Parkin) were worried at one point that the game was going to get called off at one point if the snow had come down much heavier,” the Bolton boss added.

“With us being 1-0 up we obviously didn’t want that to happen. But the ground-staff did very well at half time – they deserve credit. They cleared everything they could.”