Villa’s fury at equaliser
FURIOUS Aston Villa were left raging as they were robbed of certain victory by a controversial late goal by Jay Rodriguez.
Rodriguez clearly bundled Matt Phillips’ stoppage-time cross into the net with his hand.
Villa protested bitterly but ref Darren England allowed it to stand after consulting his linesman.
The visitors were fuming and left the field arguing with the officials for what they felt was daylight robbery.
Two-goal Anwar El Ghazi looked as if he had sent Villa striding ominously into the play-off places – until Rodriguez struck in a pulsating clash.
Angry Villa boss Dean Smith pointed out that Rodriguez handled the ball TWICE.
He said: “We’ve come toe-to-toe with a team that got relegated last year, on their home patch.
“We should have put the game to bed with chances we had.
“But we should have gone home with three points as that goal should have been disallowed it. He actually handled the ball twice.
“It’s something, when you get a reaction from all 11 players. You know something’s amiss.”
Albion boss Darren Moore admitted that he was relieved to get a point at the end of a dramatic night.
Moore said: “We kept at it and showed resilience to come back. You never want to lose a game like this. It feels like a win.”
The way these two teams have been banging in goals this season, there didn’t seem the slightest chance this would end up goalless.
The two highest-scoring sides in the Championship went into the crackling atmosphere of a local derby determined to show who had the most firepower.
It was guns at the ready and an expectant crowd didn’t have to wait long for the deadlock to be broken.
Villa drew first blood after just 12 minutes when El Ghazi launched a shot goalwards which Ahmed Hegazi got his head to but looked on in despair as he diverted the ball in.
Tussle
The visitors came close to making it 2-0 in the 27th minute when only a full-length save from former Villa keeper Sam Johnstone kept out Tammy Abraham’s shot on the turn.
But a minute later, Albion levelled things up when Harvey Barnes won a tussle with Alan Hutton out on the left and unselfishly picked out Dwight Gayle, who was ghosting in at the back post. Gayle could have opted to belt it but resisted and, instead, cushioned the ball deftly to steer the ball into the bottom corner of the net.
A few minutes before the end of a cracking first half, Villa went close again when John McGinn hammered a left-foot shot against the post.
Albion went at it immediately after the break, Gayle heading over at the far post and then Hutton forced to make a brilliant block to thwart Barnes.
It would have been a different outcome had Abraham hadn’t missed a sitter from a few yards out in the 66th minute – and Rodriguez made him pay late on in the most controversial circumstances.
El Ghazi said: “We worked so hard for this game.
“We’re going home like we lost the game. We’ve got a feeling that we lost the game now.
“We’re really disappointed but we have to look forward.”