Villa sub’s last-gasp leveller pushes rivals closer to drop
WEST BROM’S unlikely escape plot took a sickening twist as they threw away two crucial points right at the death.
Defender Kyle Bartley hesitated for the briefest of moments and allowed AstonVilla substitute Keinan Davis to poke home an equaliser.
How crucial that will be only time will tell. But with Albion now nine points adrift of safety it looks like they will have to win all of their remaining five games to have the faintest chance of avoiding the drop.
Sam Allardyce, right, and his side are not in the last chance saloon yet – but they have certainly taken up a seat in the beer garden. By the time lockdown is fully lifted it is almost certain that last orders will have been called on their brief stay in the Premier League.
Their next stop is a trip to rivals Wolves and, though they will at least be spared the indignity of being relegated at Molineux, their survival will still be hanging by a thread by the time they leave there.
They were all set for their third win in four games as the clock clicked into stoppage time but there was one last bitter twist. They were leading thanks to a Tyrone Mings own-goal two minutes into the second half
– the unfortunate Villa defender diverting home Mbaye Diagne’s cross-turned-shot into the net with his studs.
The Baggies looked good value for all three points when they failed to deal with an OllieWatkins header knocked back into the mix. Bartley took it on his chest, seemed to feel Sam Johnstone would deal with it and, in that split-second of indecision, Davis poked out his foot and popped the ball over the keeper. Allardyce’s face said it all as he threw something into the dugout in anger and frustration. He is proud of his record of never having been relegated, but that is something that looks to be on limited time. The Baggies got off to the worst possible start when they fell behind to a ninth-minute penalty but managed to rectify that by getting themselves level – also from the penalty spot – midway through the first half.
When referee Stuart Attwell pointed to the spot after Semi Ajayi sent Ross Barkley tumbling in the box, the odds looked stacked against Allardyce’s men.
Anwar El Ghazi sent Johnstone the wrong way from the spot.
But credit to the visitors, they set about repairing the damage and came close to equalising when Matheus Pereira curled a 20-yard free kick inches over the bar.
But in the 23rd minute they got their reward when Ezri Konsa fouled Ainsley Maitland-Niles in the box. Pereira stepped up and made no mistake, converting a powerful penalty to level things up.
They nearly went in front immediately after when Okay Yokuslu powered a header just wide and Pereira crashed a free-kick against the bar.
Konsa screwed a header onto his own post and was then rescued by Emiliano Martinez, who also tipped over a Pereira effort.
ASTON VILLA (4-2-3-1): Martinez 8; El Mohamady 6, Konsa 6, Mings 6, Targett 7; Luiz 6 (Ramsey 78); McGinn 7; Traore 6 (Wesley 90), Barkley 7 (Davis 82), El Ghazi 7; Watkins 7. Goals: El Ghazi 9 pen, Davis 90.
WEST BROM (4-4-2): Johnstone 8; Furlong 7, Bartley 6, Ajayi 7, Townsend 7; Yokuslu 8, Maitland-Niles 7(O’Shea 86), Gallagher 7, Pereira 8; Robinson 6 (Phillips 67, 6), Diagne 7.
Goals: Pereira 23 pen, Mings 47 og.