Premier League - Wolves peg back Villa

Eurosport - Sat, 24 Oct 14:41:00 2009

Two goals in four minutes failed to separate Wolves and Aston Villa as the Midlands rivals played out a 1-1 draw at Molineux.

Aston Villa's Gabriel Agbonlahor scores the first goal of the game v Wolves, PA Photos - 0

Gabriel Agbonlahor put Villa into the lead on 79 minutes only for Wolves to hit back almost immediately through Sylvan Ebanks-Blake's penalty kick.

Victory for Villa would have seen them climb into fourth place but in the end Martin O'Neill's side had to settle for a point which saw them remain in sixth.

Wolves moved up one place to 15th.

In front of a full house at a rain-sodden Molineux, the game crackled into life almost as soon as the referee's first whistle had sounded and two good chances fell at either end during the opening three minutes of play.

After just 45 seconds, the Wolves defence failed to deal with Brad Friedel's long punt forward, allowing Agbonlahor through on goal. But the Villa striker passed up what was a golden chance to take an early lead; his effort on goal was tame and Wayne Hennessey was able to make the save.

Moments later at the other end, referee Peter Walton was called into action to make his first big decision of the day when Richard Dunne appeared to wrestle Kevin Doyle to the ground in the Villa penalty area.

Doyle could, and possibly should, have gone down, but admirably he instead chose to try to stay on his feet. It proved a costly decision as the goalscoring opportunity passed and when he eventually did go to ground, the referee waved play on. Friedel saved with his feet from David Edwards's follow-up.

If the crowd were hoping those two early incidents were to pave the way for an exciting, free-flowing 90 minutes of football, they were to be disappointed and, until Agbonlahor swooped to inject some life back to the game late on, it proved somewhat of a damp squib.

Following the early excitement, the nearest either side came to opening the scoring was on 35 minutes when James Milner was forced to clear off the line from Doyle's attempted header, which actually came off the Wolves' striker's shoulder.

Cristophe Berra and Ebanks-Blake both saw first-half headers go wide while Villa had a less convincing penalty shout of their own turned down on 23 minutes but otherwise, the opening period , was a letdown.

Bright sunshine greeted the players on their return after the break, but the lifting of the first-half gloom failed to inspire either team and both sides largely cancelled each other out for a further 35 minutes.

Just twice did Villa look like making a breakthrough, first on 64 minutes when Ashley Young was fed by Agbonlahor only to fire wide and then on 75 minutes when Steve Sidwell saw a goalbound shot blocked by his team-mate Dunne, who could not get out of the way fast enough.

Just as the game seemed to be heading towards what would have been just the Premier League's third goalless draw of the season, the deadlock was eventually broken on 79 minutes by Agbonlahor.

The England striker had not enjoyed the best of days until that point, but he proved his worth after neatly turning Jody Craddock on the edge of the six-yard box and firing past Hennessey.

Villa's lead lasted just three-and-a-half minutes as Wolves surged upfield and won a penalty after Michael Kightly, who had been fed by a lovely back-heel from substitute Nenad Milijas, was upended by Sidwell.

Referee Walton pointed to the spot and Ebanks-Blake struck the spot kick straight and true to register his first Premier League goal and give Wolves a share of the spoils.

Mike Hytner / Eurosport

Comment 13 - 32 of 32

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  1. the mighty potters r coming get ya

    From mathew a, on Mon 26 Oct 12:03PM

  2. Villa didn't turn up, neither did their fans!­ hahahaha!

    Wolves fought hard and fully deserved the­ point! All you villa fanss that are talking top 4 you­ can forget it! Top 8 maybe.

    Wolves will finish 12th­ this season and Man City and Spurs will be in the top­ four!

    Rafa will get the sack by xmas and liverpoo will­ finish 5th.

    From Chris H, on Mon 26 Oct 8:12AM

  3. Win 2 tickets to a premier match of your choice text GL­ MATCHTICKETS to 87070

    From gibson7201, on Mon 26 Oct 7:32AM

  4. against a weak side villa should of slaughtered, but­ again the weakness of sidwell, who missed so many­ chances, gave the ball away so many times and more­ importantly gave the penalty away,

    i still say sidwell­ should not be in the team along with the donkey heskey,­ and if carew cant play in the rain someone buy him a­ umbrella, lets hope downing can move sidwell out of the­ team.

    From rahul s, on Sun 25 Oct 7:46PM

  5. at least the other results have gone with us but fair­ play to wolves they outplayed us for periods of the­ game but its not good enough gabby had an off day and­ carew had a lot of huff and puff for no profit although­ carew should have had a penalty just like doyle should­ have

    From pete the greek, on Sun 25 Oct 4:54PM

  6. ginger @#$% better not play next game.
    NRC for centre­ mid.
    i dont care whats going on between him and­ o'neill.
    hes better than the ginger ninja.

    From convilla, on Sun 25 Oct 8:58AM

  7. I don't think it is good enough for Villa to only­ draw against @#$% sides like Wolves.
    If we want to­ finish in the top 4 we have to demolish sides like­ Wolves.
    How is it Villa stuff Liverpool and Chelsea and­ draw against man city and can't finish off smaller­ and weaker sides.

    From CHRIS, on Sun 25 Oct 8:18AM
  8. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

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    From Lucy, on Sun 25 Oct 4:10AM

  9. Doyle is so damn selfish.

    From aleksicn93, on Sun 25 Oct 4:05AM

  10. Villa must do better against opponents like Wolves if­ they want to go up the Premiership table. Their­ strikers are employed 45 minutes each side of the­ break, not just for the 20 minutes at the end, and they­ would do well to remember this because
    their failure­ to secure a victory cost Villa rising to 5th place in­ the Premiership.

    From Richie, on Sun 25 Oct 1:09AM

  11. A PENALTY IS GIVEN WHEN A PLAYER HAD A CLEAR CHANCE OF­ SCORING IN FRONT OF THE GOAL. KIGHTLY AND THE BALL WAS­ FACING AWAY FROM THE GOAL AND SIDWELL DID GET TO THE­ BALL FIRST, I'VE WATCH REPLAY 5 TIMES, PETER­ WALTON, YOU'RE WRONG!!!

    From octaneoverboost, on Sun 25 Oct 12:55AM

  12. dingles are **** and *****

    From Chris, on Sat 24 Oct 10:00PM

  13. WOLVES CAN BAY VICIOUS BASTERDS. A SEEN AT AN DA­ NATIANEL GEOGREPHAC CHONNAL.

    From Donney, on Sat 24 Oct 8:26PM

  14. wolves will still go down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    From andy, on Sat 24 Oct 6:56PM
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    From Gillian, on Sat 24 Oct 5:36PM

  16. #19, I'm just disappointed because I want­ Liverfools to suffer as much heartbreak as possible,­ but I guess on the other hand all the teams below them­ have moved up and after loosing to ManU tomorrow, next­ week maybe some of those teams can move above them and­ send them even lower...

    From jumaford, on Sat 24 Oct 5:32PM

  17. jumaford,HA!Are you actually being serious?!Every team­ in the premiership could have been deprived three­ points today and it still wouldn't make a blind bit­ of difference to Liuverpool's chances!That is­ unless their aim is to end up in the top 8!

    From MichealS, on Sat 24 Oct 5:24PM

  18. Today belonged to liverpool, Aston villa ties,­ Sunderland loose, Spurs loose and we'll see what­ happens to chelsea, so when they loose tomorrow the­ teams above them won't have pull ahead of them by­ much if at all...so this is a liverpool victory more­ then an Aston Villa draw

    From jumaford, on Sat 24 Oct 5:00PM

  19. adilrockstar - do you know what a draw is - learn to­ spell correctly you @#$%- UP THE WOLVES!!

    From Sara, on Sat 24 Oct 4:47PM

  20. I think if we're honest the villa didn't really­ deserve a win. They may have played slightly better­ than Wolves over the 90mins but not enough to DESERVE a­ win. The front three for villa didn't turn up until­ about 70mins and Wolves couldn't break through the­ Villa defence. Draw was fair, but this really was the­ sort of game Villa need to be winning if they want to­ sustain a push for the top 4. Wolves played ok - should­ stay up if they continue working hard for results.

    From Jay, on Sat 24 Oct 4:39PM
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