Kodjia rescues unbeaten Villa
JONATHAN KODJIA shattered Brentford with a stunning stoppage-time smash and grab.
The Villa striker headed home with seconds left of the five minutes of time added on.
Up to that point it looked like Brentford would be sitting second in the table courtesy of Neal Maupay’s double.
Maupay – who could face retrospective action for a stamp on Villa’s John McGinn in the first half, which went unpunished – had grabbed what looked to be the winner with minutes left before Kodjia pounced.
The French striker had stunned Villa, who went into the game knowing victory would put them joint top of the table.
Jack Grealish had a shot blocked by goalkeeper Daniel Bentley and the home side looked favourites to open the scoring when they were breached in the 23rd minute.
Sergi Canos exploited space down the right, crossed to the back post and when Oliver Watkins found Maupay with a knock back, the striker made no mistake, lashing an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net to give Brentford the lead.
A few minutes later Maupay came so close to getting a second when his close-range header looked certain to go in before McGinn got in the way.
But Villa responded superbly and began to rattle the visitors to such an extent that they were lucky not to go a man down.
Maupay went unpunished for a cynical stamp on McGinn, and Watkins was booked for a ridiculous revenge tackle on Grealish.
Henrik Dalsgaard’s challenge on Adomah was not too clever either but referee Jon Moss allowed play to go on and the Bees paid a far bigger price. Kodjia pounced on the loose ball, rolled Ezri Konsa and picked his spot with a low shot into the net to equalise.
Brentford were suddenly beginning to look a bit ragged after seriously threatening to take the upper hand.
Steve Bruce’s men really should have gone in front on the hour when Adomah carved a path down the left and sent a perfect cross in to Kodjia, who was left thumping the ground in frustration as he volleyed straight at the keeper from 10 yards. That looked to have proved really expensive when Maupay helped himself to a second eight minutes from time, poking the ball home from close range, before Kodjia’s late heroics.
ASTON VILLA (4-4-1-1): Nyland, Hutton, Chester, Jedinak, Tuanzebe (Hourihane 83); Adomah (Green 70), Whelan (Hepburn-Murphy 85), McGinn, Elmohamady; Grealish; Kodjia. Booked: Chester, Grealish, Kodjia. Goals: Kodjia 39, 90.
BRENTFORD (4-2-3-1): Bentley, Dalsgaard, Konsa, Mepham, Barbet; McEachran (Yennaris 60), Canos (Benrahma 72); Sawyers, Macleod (Mokotjo 46), Watkins; Maupay.
Booked: Watkins, Benrahma. Goals: Maupay 23, 82.
Referee: J Moss (West Yorkshire).
ANGRY Stoke fans turned on boss Gary Rowett just four games into his reign as the Potters’ early season crisis deepened at the hands of Wigan.
Will Grigg scored twice as the Latics embarrassed the pre-season promotion favourites to leave them with just two points from their first four games.
Ashley Williams was sent off to compound a horrid night for Stoke, and frustrated fans – who have not seen their side win at home since January – sang “you don’t know what you’re doing” at Rowett, who replaced Saido Berahino with Peter Crouch in a like-for-like change.
Paul Cook’s Wigan have lost just once in their four games, with Gavin Massey also on target last night as they increased Stoke’s Premier League relegation hangover.