STEVE BRUCE freely admits he spent most of last week coming up with a plan to negate the attacking threat posed by Adama Traore.

Tony Pulis now has 24 hours to come up with his own way of unpicking the Aston Villa boss’ scheme.

It is advantage Villa at the halfway stage of the Championship play-off semi-final, and it is also advantage Bruce. No one has won promotion to the Premier League more times than Villa’s Northumberland-born boss, and if Pulis is to prevent his opposite number taking a giant step towards a fifth success by securing a place at Wembley tomorrow night, he is going to have to devise a different approach to the one that proved so unsuccessful on Saturday.

Bruce is far too savvy to come out and say it outright, but he clearly believes that if you stop Traore, you effectively stop Middlesbrough. That is what happened in the first leg at the Riverside, with Villa completely neutering the player who has been so pivotal to Boro’s improvement under Pulis in the second half of the season.

Time and time again, Boro fed the ball to Traore in the hope that the Spaniard would produce a moment of magic to get them back into the game after Mile Jedinak headed Villa into an early lead. Time and time again, Traore was left frustrated as Villa’s game plan worked to a tee.

Very few Championship defenders have been able to live with Traore this season, but in 33-year-old Alan Hutton, Villa boasted a player who was more than the winger’s match. Calling on every ounce of the experience gained at clubs like Tottenham, Rangers, Sunderland and Real Mallorca, Hutton spent the evening funnelling Traore into areas of the pitch where he was unable to hurt the opposition.

Whereas most opponents come undone because they try to get too tight to Boro’s jet-heeled wide man, enabling him to spin and break free, Hutton stood off and forced Traore to play in front of him. When Traore switched flanks, so did he, and on the few occasions when his opponent threatened to gain half-a-yard on him, either Robert Snodgrass or Albert Adomah scuttled back to ensure he was enveloped by two or even three defenders.

It was a tactical masterclass, and while Pulis will not admit it, you sense he would have been impressed by the thoroughness of Villa’s defensive approach. In terms of dealing with Traore, Bruce will almost certainly be calling for more of the same tomorrow.

“We know what we’re going to get from Middlesbrough, and they don’t really have to change anything because they’re a threat,” said the Villa boss. “They’ve always got the boy they took from us (Traore), and he’s something different.

“We did a lot of work on how to stop him, and I thought Alan was superb. He’s really stepped up. I’ve probably picked him more than anyone else in the last 18 months, but he’s out of contract this summer. If any performance was going to show he deserves a new deal, it was that.”

Hutton will be attempting to produce a repeat display in the return leg at Villa Park, so with his side having to win to have any chance of making it to the final, Pulis must decide whether to tinker with his own tactical approach.

That could mean pulling Traore infield to keep him away from Villa’s full-backs and wide midfielders, or it could involve shuffling his other attacking players around to ask different questions of the opposition back four.

On the evidence of Saturday evening, sticking to the game plan he has adopted for the last couple of months will not work, and whether it is starting with Patrick Bamford alongside Britt Assombalonga, or playing Traore as a ‘number ten’, some subtle changes are required to disrupt Villa’s defensive rhythm.

Boro had some half-chances at the weekend, with Assombalonga wasting three decent first-half openings as he failed to find the target with two rising drives before directing a glanced header too close to Sam Johnstone. However, they were few and far between.

Their best spell came in the closing stages after Fabio da Silva replaced Daniel Ayala, necessitating a defensive reshuffle that saw Ryan Shotton move infield to centre-half. Whereas Shotton is essentially a defensive full-back, Fabio is much happier on the front foot, and fresh from signing a contract extension last week, the Brazilian forced Johnstone into a smart late save with a header.

With Ayala a major doubt for tomorrow’s return game, Fabio’s attacking forays down the left-hand side could form a key part of Boro’s attacking arsenal.

Chasing the game at too early a stage could be calamitous, but at some point, Pulis is going to have to release the shackles. It might be against his nature, but the rigidity of the system he has employed in the last few months will almost certainly have to be loosened.

“Villa are in the ascendancy in the tie, you can’t hide that fact,” admitted the Boro boss.

“Going to Villa Park, in front of a full house, it gives them the advantage. But anything can happen in 90 minutes.”

The fact that Boro are trailing owes much to their ineffectiveness in attack, but it is also a result of the dreadful defending that allowed Villa to claim the lead after just 15 minutes.

Jack Grealish delivered a corner from the left, and Shotton allowed Jedinak to run off him to glance a header into the far corner.

It was extremely slack marking from the hosts, and their failings were exacerbated by the absence of a defender on the post. Had someone been stationed at the back post, the ball would have been cleared, rather than finding the net via the base of the upright.

Darren Randolph was left helpless on that occasion, but the Irish international produced a sensational save to prevent things getting worse a minute before the break.

Robert Snodgrass’ curled effort was heading for the corner before Randolph’s fingertips diverted the ball on to the post. It was a sensational save, and could yet have a major say on the final outcome.

“It’s not over yet,” maintained Bruce. “It’s 1-0 at half-time and they’ve had some better results away from home. We won’t take anything granted because we know what’s coming.

“We’re going to have to be defensively rock-solid again, and hit them on the counter-attack. That’s what Tony normally does to teams, so we know what we’ll have to deal with.”

Pulis has 24 hours to come up with something different. In terms of salvaging Boro’s season, the clock is ticking.