Lansbury to Villa’s rescue

HENRI LANSBURY came off the bench to earn a point for promotion-chasing Aston Villa. The midfielder took advantage of Leeds appealing in vain for a free-kick after 71 minutes to stride through the heart of their defence and drive in an equaliser off the base of a post. He had been on the pitch for just six minutes. Until then, it looked like manager Steve Bruce would be marking a third consecutive December visit to Elland Road with defeat, courtesy of Pontus Jansson’s early header. The 11th-minute ovation on the sixth anniversary of club legend Gary Speed’s death had not long petered out when Leeds took the lead. Pablo Hernandez’s corner arrowed into the six-yard area where Jansson leapt highest to head in. Two of the Swede’s four league goals have come against Villa. With the visitors looking vulnerable at set-pieces, Jansson

remained one of Leeds’ biggest goal threats, although it was captain Liam Cooper who was unable to keep his header on target on the stroke of half-time after Robert Snodgrass, returning to his former club, had hacked down Ezgjan Alioski. Cooper did beat Villa goalkeeper Sam Johnstone just after the hour with a glancing header only for the effort to be ruled out for offside. At the other end, Glenn Whelan and top scorer Albert Adomah squandered great chances to equalise before Lansbury surged into the space vacated by the felled Jansson to drill low past Felix Wiedwald.