EPL GIANTS FIRE UP IN BRISBANE

THE English Premier League came to Brisbane on Sunday, and more than 40,000 fans would not have left Suncorp Stadium disappointed as Aston Villa and Leeds showed they were in Australia for anything but a pre-season holiday.

With the start of the new season less than three weeks away, the sometimes brutal Queensland Champions Cup match – won 1-0 by Villa thanks to second-half Danny Ings penalty – was played at a top-flight intensity, even after the customary swag of second-half substitutions that sometimes take the sting out of friendly matches.

If anything the contest became more spiteful after all the changes, with 16-year-old Leeds substitute Archie Gray the unfortunate victim.

Having been booked just minutes earlier for his own late challenge on Villa’s Emiliano Buendia, Gray was stretchered off with what seemed to be a serious ankle injury after being on the wrong end of a crunching tackle from Villa captain John McGinn, who had also started the match on the bench.

While McGinn was given a yellow card for the foul, it didn’t placate a furious Leeds coach Jesse Marsch.

McGinn and Marsch soon became involved in a slanging match on the sideline as the Leeds mentor let the Villa hardman know in no uncertain terms what he had thought of the tackle.

However, Marsch later claimed he was in fact aiming his words at referee Adam Kersey, and that McGinn wrongly thought they were directed at him.

Marsch said Leeds were “hopeful” Gray hadn’t suffered a broken ankle but just a sprain.

Villa coach Steven Gerrard sympathised with Gray. “It got feisty for a short period,” he said.