Aston Villa 2 Brentford 2 - Report and pictures

Just when Villa looked doomed to a first Championship defeat of the season, Jonathan Kodjia earned his team a dramatic point with a last-gasp goal against Brentford.

The striker, who had netted his first goal in nearly 11 months in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Ipswich, capped a powerhouse performance with a header in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

Despite their best team display of the campaign to date, Villa had looked destined to defeat when Neal Maupay netted his second goal of the game to give the Bees a 2-1 lead with eight minutes remaining.

Goalkeeper Orjan Nyland then pulled off two point blank saves to keep his team in it before Kodjia, who had earlier pulled Villa level after Maupay had opened the scoring in the first-half, headed home Ahmed Elmohamady’s cross to send home supporters into rapture.

For much of the match, they had watched their team produce their finest football for many months.

But as Villa’s intensity waned, so the Bees took control and they looked likely to claim a third win in four matches against Bruce’s men, before Kodjia struck late.

Bruce will feel justice was done, with Maupay having been fortunate to escape a red card for a cynical stamp on John McGinn with the score at 1-1.

The result moved Villa up one spot in the table to fifth, with eight points from four games.

Bruce made just one change to the team which drew 1-1 at Ipswich on Saturday, Glenn Whelan replacing Birkir Bjarnason in central midfield.

It meant the manager kept faith with Mile Jedinak at centre-back, while Nyland again started in goal.

Villa were quickly out of the blocks and almost went ahead inside the opening two minutes.

McGinn, their standout player of the previous two league games, lifted an effort narrowly over the bar on the stretch after exchanging passes with Albert Adomah and racing into the box.

Crosses were creating plenty of uncertainty in the visiting box, with Henrik Dalsgaard fortunate not to score an embarrassing own goal when his mis-hit clearance, which looked destined for the goal, hit the back of Ollie Watkins’s head and was deflected behind.

Jack Grealish brought the first save of the night out of Bees keeper Dan Bentley, before drawing an even better one from the keeper at close range after the Bees defence had failed to clear an Ahmed Elmohamady cross into the box.

A goal looked inevitable and duly arrived, yet against the run of play it was the visitors who scored it.

Brentford’s front three of Sergi Canos, Watkins and Maupay had barely had a kick until combining to devastating effect. Canos swung in a cross from the right which Watkins, rising high at the far post, headed back into the the path of Maupay, who lashed a fierce finish into the top corner from 12 yards out.

Villa looked shaken and almost conceded again quickly afterwards. This time Maupay was left completely unmarked at a corner, with only the presence of McGinn on the line denying the French striker a second goal.

Gradually the hosts began to recover their poise. A superb crossfield ball from McGinn sent Elmohamady racing away, only for the wideman’s shot to be blocked by a diving Chris Mepham.

Kodjia, meanwhile, was proving a constant menace. The Ivory Coast international, who had earlier been booked for an over-enthusiastic challenge on Ezri Konsa, brought a fine save out of Bentley with a stinging shot after rolling a defender.

Shortly afterward the same trick would bring Villa level. Kodjia held off Konsa on the left wing before turning inside the defender, racing into the box and lashing a right-footed finish beyond Bentley and inside the near post.

The remaining talking point of the half involved Maupay, who was fortunate to avoid sanction for what appeared a cynical stamp on McGinn.

McGinn was tangling with countryman Lewis Macleod when Maupay appeared to leave a foot in on the midfielder. The incident was missed by referee Jon Moss.

Maupay was quickly into the action in the second half, this time being denied a second goal by Nyland, who raced out to block the striker’s shot after point blank range after a Jedinak header had left Villa in trouble.

It was a rare moment of alarm for the hosts, yet the breakthrough remained frustratingly elusive.

McGinn shot over when well placed, while Bentley was out to block Grealish’s cross, intended for an unmarked Kodjia, at the near post.

Kodjia, who was still causing the visitors a hatful of problems, then volleyed straight at the keeper from 12 yards out after Adomah had burst down the left flank and whipped a cross into the middle.

Villa had done a good job of suffocating Brentford but as their intensity waned, just past the hour mark, so the visitors began to find more control.

Nyland saved smartly low down to his left to deny Nico Yennaris, while Watkins saw a low drive deflected just wide of the far post.

The goal came with just eight minutes remaining. Watkins cut in from the left and drilled in a shot which Nyland could only push into the air, Maupay beating Alan Hutton to the ball to stab home from a yard out.

It was another questionable moment for the keeper, yet just a minute later he kept Villa in it with a fine save from substitute Said Benrahma’s header.

He then reproduced those heroics to block from Maupay at close range, leaving Kodjia clear to steal the show at the death. Mepham could only flick on Elmohamady’s cross and Kodjia powered a header across Bentley and into the far corner.

Villa (4-1-4-1): Nyland, Tuanzebe (Hourihane 83), Chester, Jedinak, Hutton, Whelan (Hepburn-Murphy 85), Elmohamady, Grealish, McGinn, Adomah (Green 69), Kodjia Subs not used: Taylor, Elphick, Bjarnason, Moreira (gk).

Brentford (4-2-3-1): Bentley, Dalsgaard, Konsa, Mepham, Barbet, Macleod (Mokojto HT), McEachran (Yennaris 60), Canos (Benrahma 72), Sawyers, Watkins, Maupay Subs not used: Woods, Judge, Jeanvier.