Game details
Match: Aston Villa v Hull City
Date: Saturday 19th January 2019
Competition: Sky Bet Championship
Venue: Villa Park
Attendance: 33,619
Scoring summary
Chester 45, Abraham 64
Bowen 27, Evando 37
Line-up
Kalinic; Hutton, Chester, Elphick, Taylor; McGinn, Hourihane, Bjarnason (Kodjia, 75); Adomah (Green 59), Abraham Bolasie (El Ghazi, 59). UNUSED SUBS: Steer, Davis, Elmohamady, Hause.
Story in brief
James Chester and Tammy Abraham ensured a comeback point for Aston Villa in a 2-2 draw with Hull City.
It looked immensely difficult for the claret and blues as they were 2-0 down heading into the final moments of the first half, with the Tigers eyeing seven victories on the spin.
But Chester gave us hope with a bullet header from Conor Hourihane’s beautifully flighted ball into the box from the right.
The second half was pretty much one-way traffic and the one goal seemed scant reward for the endeavour on show by Dean Smith’s men.
But Abraham’s finely-worked effort, which also involved fine work from John McGinn and Alan Hutton, guaranteed a point in a game that for 44 minutes looked unlikely.
High energy
John McGinn was at his effervescent best once again as he led by example throughout the 90 minutes.
Villa fans were told by their Hibernian counterparts of the Scot’s never-ending supply of passion and energy when he signed at the start of the season.
And he’s never let his down, including this one against Hull City where he never stopped moving from first minute to last.
Leading by example
James Chester made a huge contribution to the 2-2 draw with his goal on the stroke of half-time – but it was his input at the other end that was equally vital.
The Tigers were pushing for early joy and thought they had opened the scoring, only for Chester to miraculously claw the ball away from underneath the crossbar.
It was a real captain’s performance!
What next?
Paul Lambert returns to Villa Park for the first time since his departure from the B6 hotseat back in February 2015, after three years as manager.
He brings his Ipswich Town side here on Saturday 26th January, kick-off 3pm.
Ironically, the game before his departure was, also, against Hull City.
