Kodjia rescues point for Villa, Bolton go top

LONDON: Jonathan Kodjia struck deep into stoppage time to salvage Aston Villa’s unbeaten start to the English Championship season and deny Brentford the chance to go joint top in a 2-2 draw at Villa Park.

Bolton do move level with Leeds and Middlesbrough at the top of table on 10 points from their opening four games as Will Buckley scored the only goal to seal a 1-0 home win over Birmingham.

Villa and Brentford are two points back after a four-goal thriller that left both sides feeling hard done by.

Neal Maupay scored either side of half-time for the visitors to take his tally for the season to five in four games.

Maupay, though, could be set for a three-game ban after a stamp on John McGinn towards the end of the first-half went unnoticed by the officials.

Kodjia endured an injury-ravaged campaign last season after a prolific debut campaign at Villa and looked back to his best as he equalised before half-time and then looped home a header in the 95th minute to rescue a point.

Stoke had another night to forget as their faltering start back in the Championship continued with a 3-0 thrashing at home to newly-promoted Wigan.

Highly-fancied for an immediate return to the English Premier League after a summer of heavy investment and keeping hold of England international goalkeeper Jack Butland, Stoke have recorded just two points from four games.

Will Grigg scored twice and Gavin Massey was also on target before Stoke’s misery was completed by a red card for Ashley Williams 12 minutes from time.

Sheffield Wednesday ended a four-year wait to win on a Wednesday as Barry Bannan’s spectacular volley opened the scoring in a 2-1 win over Millwall for their first league win of the season.

Norwich also got off the mark thanks to two goals in the final 10 minutes through Teemu Pukki and Alexander Tettey to beat Preston 2-0.

Two penalties from Blackburn captain Charlie Mulgrew cancelled out a double from Reading’s Jon Dadi Bodvarsson in a 2-2 draw at Ewood Park. — AFP