Aston Villa were held to a 1-1 draw at West Ham United in the Under-18 Premier League South.
Taylor-Jay Hart opened the scoring for the Young Lions after 11 minutes only for Kai Corbett to level for the Hammers on the stroke of half-time.
Substitute Tommi O’Reilly’s shot was adjudged not to have crossed the line for Villa late on before captain Paul Appiah was sent off for a second bookable offence, as the visitors claimed a point to maintain their challenge at the top of the table.
Sean Verity’s side currently sit in third place, four points off the summit and have two games in hand, with a home clash against West Bromwich Albion next up on Saturday.
Dewain Sewell had already hit a post before another excellently-worked move led to Villa’s early opener.
Patient passing play resulted in Arjan Raikhy sending Seb Revan clear down the left and he crossed for Hart to send a well-taken volley past Hammers goalkeeper Kristjan Hegyi from eight yards, registering his second goal in as many games.
Corbett equalised for the hosts just before the break to ensure both sides went into the interval on level terms.
O’Reilly looked to have won it for Villa in the closing stages when he produced a great piece of skill to create space and send a shot goalwards, which bounced off the inside of a post and across the face before hitting the opposite frame of the goal but was deemed not to have crossed the line.
And Villa finished the encounter with 10 men when Appiah was dismissed in the 90th minute.
Villa: Zych, Ealing, Revan, Appiah, Swinkels, Lindley, T Rowe (O’Reilly 70), Hart (Abldeen-Goodridge 59), Sewell, Raikhy, Afoka (Reddin 70).
Subs: Zito.
