U21s: Stoke City 1-1 Aston Villa

Aston Villa were made to settle for a point on the road in Premier League 2 on Saturday afternoon, being held to a 1-1 draw by Stoke City at the bet365 Stadium.

Josep Gombau’s Young Lions weathered an early Stoke storm in the Potteries to take the lead 17 minutes in through Kane Taylor.

However, despite controlling large parts of the encounter, the Villans succumbed to a late Emre Tezgel equaliser from the penalty spot nine minutes from time, sending them home with just a point to show for their efforts.

From the first whistle, Villa were on the attack, and could have taken the lead inside the opening minute, as Mason Cotcher pulled back for Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba, but he dragged his shot wide.

Despite this, it was the hosts who began the affair the brighter of the two sides, enjoying much of the territory without creating anything clear cut in the first 10 minutes.

And they would be made to rue not making their dominance pay, as Gombau’s side grew into the game and took the lead shortly after the quarter-hour mark.

A neat, sweeping move saw the ball shifted from right to left. I-Lani Edwards found the onrushing, overlapping Taylor who fired into the far corner to put the Villans ahead.

The visitors had the wind in their sails, and looked for more. Jimoh-Aloba drove forward and again looked for the far corner, flashing an effort this time more narrowly wide of the post.

But the pendulum swung once more in the direction of the Potters, who finished the half the stronger, leaving Villa with Lander Emery to thank for keeping them in front.

The visiting goalkeeper denied efforts from Sydney Agina and Tezgel in quick succession, before moments later rushing off his line to thwart Favour Fawunmi, who had been played in behind for Stoke’s best opportunity of the opening period.

The second 45 followed a similar, end-to-end pattern to the first. It was all to play for in an open affair, with both sides looking to secure the points.

Emery was again called into action within two minutes of the restart, beating away Bosun Lawal’s effort from distance.

Stoke stopper Alfie Brooks then needed to be alert at the other end, doing well to deny Cotcher from close range after Bradley Burrowes had found the Villa forward on the edge of the six-yard box with a clever cut-back.

Villa looked for a crucial second goal to kill the game, and it might have come 10 minutes from time when substitute Triston Rowe surged forward and fed Burrowes, but couldn’t quite manage to get a proper connection on the ball back into the box.

Instead, it would be the home side who immediately raced down the other end to equalise, Tezgel slipping in behind and going down in the area under Thierry Katsukunya, who was booked for his troubles. Tezgel dusted himself down and made no mistake from 12 yards, sending Emery the wrong way to restore parity.

Stoke had the bit between their teeth and piled on the pressure in the closing stages in search of an equaliser, with Fawunmi heading agonisingly wide at the far post, but the Villans successfully saw out the closing stages to secure a hard-earned point.