Aston Villa came from behind to take a hard-fought point in Premier League 2 on Sunday afternoon, drawing 1-1 away at Brighton & Hove Albion.
Josep Gombau's Young Lions fell behind after a quarter of an hour somewhat against the run of play at The Amex Elite Football Performance Centre, through Charlie Tasker's unstoppable half-volley.
But having worked the ball well and created chances throughout, Villa earned their just rewards four minutes from time, when Triston Rowe slid home from inside the area to earn a share of the spoils.
Villa started the better of the two sides on the south coast, controlling the majority of the ball and doing well to repel the advancing efforts of Brighton’s aggressive press.
It took them just five minutes to fashion their first opportunity, as good link-up play between Rowe – operating in a more advanced wing position – and Kyrie Pierre, who started in the No.10, found Mason Cotcher in the centre, but he steered his effort straight at goalkeeper Hugo Fisher.
And the visitors would be made to rue not taking advantage of their possession, as the Seagulls took the lead with a quarter of an hour on the clock. A corner was only partially cleared by the Villa defence as far as Charlie Tasker, who fired an unstoppable half-volley past Sam Lewis and high into the roof of the net.
Gombau’s youngsters looked for a response, as Aidan Borland flashed an effort a whisker wide of the far post from the edge of the area eight minutes later, before Omar Khedr turned a good chance wide at the back post on the stroke of half-time, but despite still carrying a lot of the ball, they failed to find a way through, as they ended the opening period a goal behind.
Villa came out for the second period immediately going in search of an equaliser, the game following a similar pattern for much of the half.
Rodrigo Fortes’ set-pieces from the right-hand side were causing Brighton problems, with one almost turned in via the boot of a home defender.
But the hosts stood firm. Rowe’s ball in had to be parried away by Fisher, before the introduction of I-Lani Edwards gave the Villans a renewed attacking spark.
On several occasions, the attacker found himself in promising attacking positions, but was thwarted each time. First, just before the hour mark, Fisher was behind his effort after Thierry Katsukunya had headed back across goal, before moments later, he couldn’t quite trap a long ball over the top to guarantee a free run at goal.
But Villa kept pushing and, with four minutes to play, their efforts were rewarded as Rowe dragged them level.
A corner was played short on the right-hand side, and Borland and substitute Charlie Pavey exchanged passes, finding Rowe who had continued his run to squeeze an effort in at Fisher’s near post to level proceedings.
The Villans weren’t done there, and desperately threw bodies forward in search of a winning goal. Rowe was again a threat, firing at Fisher from a tight angle, but the Brighton stopper beat his fierce drive away.
Despite the best efforts of Gombau’s charges, the hosts held strong to keep the visitors at bay and ensure they would take just one hard-earned point back to the Midlands.
