Ings snatches Burnley draw
Aston Villa 1
A late Danny Ings penalty snatched a 1-1 home draw for Burnley as Aston Villa’s winless run extended to nine games yesterday.
Joe Cole had scored on his first Premier League start for Villa when he picked up a cross to fire the visitors ahead after 38 minutes. But Burnley were awarded a penalty three minutes from time when Villa defender Jores Okore brought down Lukas Jutkiewicz.
Ings stepped up and fired into the roof of the net for his fourth goal in the last five games to extend Burnley’s unbeaten run to three. It added to the pressure on Villa boss Paul Lambert following the resignation of his assistant Roy Keane earlier in the week.
Former England midfielder Cole came in for Charles N’Zogbia in Villa’s only change from the team that drew against Southampton on Monday. Burnley made one change as they sought a third straight victory, with Michael Keane making his first Premier League start in place of the injured Michael Duff.
Cole made his presence felt early as he was instrumental in two crosses to Gabriel Agbonlahor and Tom Cleverley in the first 20 minutes, which were both blocked by Thomas Heaton in the Burnley goal.
But 33-year-old midfielder Cole broke the deadlock seven minutes before the break off an Andreas Weimann cross. After the interval Villa missed three chances to pull further ahead through Weimann and Cleverley. Burnley’s chances came through George Boyd and Ings before a late flurry of substitutions saw Cole replaced by Jack Grealish.
After securing the penalty, Burnley poured forward in search of the winner with Ings’ bid for a double hitting the right post, as a Lukas Jutkiewicz header also missed the mark.
A Grealish shot at goal was kept out by Heaton in the last action of the evening, to leave Villa winless in their last nine matches, following up six defeats in a row with successive draws. Victories over Hull and Stoke had taken Burnley’s points tally into double figures and lifted them off the bottom of the table. They are now second from bottom one point ahead of tailenders Leicester, with Lambert’s side only two points above the Clarets. — AFP