Roberto Di Matteo plays down Aston Villa sack speculation
Boss Roberto Di Matteo played down speculation his job is at risk after Villa conceded yet another late goal to draw at Barnsley.
Sam Winnall's 90th minute header condemned Villa to a fifth successive draw and ramped up the pressure on Di Matteo, whose position has come under increasing scrutiny in recent days following a slow start to the season.
Reports have suggested the Italian might be dismissed if his team failed to beat either Barnsley or Preston this Saturday but Di Matteo insisted he had been given no such message.
"There is no indication at all," he said. When asked if he was in touch with owner Tony Xia, he responded: "We are in touch. We are all disappointed with the results. We have drawn too many games which we could have and should have won.
"We are all disappointed with the points tally.
"Every game you don't win adds pressure but we have put ourselves in this situation. We do a lot of good things but the margin between drawing and winning. We need to get over it."
Jordan Ayew's strike just past the hour mark looked to have given Villa a first away win in 14 months but they failed to take advantage of a number of chances before being stung by Winnall's late header.
It is the fourth time this season Villa have blown a lead in the final ten minutes and Di Matteo added: "It's a big disappointment we didn't win the game because I thought we were the better team, certainly in the second half. We should have put it to bed. If you don't do that the opposition always have a chance until the end.
"It is difficult to understand why we don't manage to kill the games off despite the many opportunities we have. Then you are under pressure till the last second. We have thrown away so many points because of just having a one-goal difference."
"The only way to come through it is to win a game like this. We have done so many right things and we are not coming away with three points."
