Bristol City 1 Aston Villa 1 - Report and pictures

Yet it might be enough to see him stay as Villa manager, if only for a few more days.

Birkir Bjarnason’s header was enough to earn Villa a point at Bristol City in a game Bruce simply could not afford to lose.

The frustration will be that his team did not show enough endeavour to win a match which often looked to be there for the taking at Ashton Gate.

Bjarnason’s leveller, in the third minute of first-half stoppage time, cancelled out Josh Brownhill’s 16th minute opener for the hosts.

Villa had the better chances in the second half but this was another performance a long way from perfect.

For the third successive away game, Bruce heard sections of the away support call for his head.

Once again, it was a minority. But it was also a reminder this result, while in isolation far from poor against a team with a fine home record, has done nothing to ease the pressure.

Tuesday’s home game with a Preston team yet to record a win this season, is now the very definition of must-win.

Bruce made two changes from the team beaten by Sheffield Wednesday. It included a first start for Bjarnason since August 25, while Axel Tuanzebe was also restored to the line-up.

Ahmed Elmohamady and Albert Adomah both dropped to the bench, leaving the team short on natural width.

The home line-up featured two former Villa players in Nathan Baker and Andreas Weimann and the latter came close to opening the scoring in just the sixth minute but having dived at Brownhill’s cross, he was unable to keep his header down.

Villa threatened briefly before Brownhill broke the deadlock. Home keeper Niki Maenpaa struggled to hold Grealish’s cross but when the ball fell for Jonathan Kodjia, his shot was blocked. Tammy Abraham, on his return to Ashton Gate, then had the ball in the net, only to see it swiftly ruled out for what appeared a rather blatant foul on Maenpaa.

Both sides were, in truth, struggling to make headway before Brownhill blasted the hosts in front on 16 minutes

Weimann’s attempted run through the Villa defence was interrupted by Mile Jedinak, whose tackle deflected the ball into the path of Brownhill who, from 25 yards out, hit a low shot which took a big deflection to wrong-foot keeper Orjan Nyland on its way into the net.

Things almost immediately got worse for the visitors when a long ball over the top found Weimann unmarked in the box but - perhaps not realising the time he had - the Austrian rushed his shot and sent it straight at Nyland.

Villa, having settled from the shock of going behind, still huffed and puffed in their attempts to find an equaliser.

Hourihane sent a low, left-footed drive just wide of the post, while Abraham shot too close to Maenpaa from distance when he appeared to have better options.

But with the visitors short on ideas and the game drifting toward half-time, Bjarnason suddenly popped up from nowhere with a leveller in the third minute of stoppage time.

The goal owed much to Hourihane who, after Grealish had been fouled 25 yards from goal, whipped in a fierce free-kick which Bjarnason headed powerfully beyond Maenpaa.

It meant that instead of boos, the visitors left the field to cheers from the travelling support.

Yet having got back on level terms, they almost handed the hosts back their advantage within seconds of the restart when Nyland could only parry Lloyd Kelly’s cross back into the danger area. The ball dropped to Taylor but his header, much to Villa’s relief, lacked any power.

Villa still had their tails up, the insipid nature of their first-half showing replaced by a fresh aggression.

Another Hourihane free-kick caused consternation in the Bristol City box, this time the ball refusing to fall for a Villa boot, while howls for handball were waved away.

Maenpaa then denied John McGinn a second stunning goal in the space of a week, diving to his right to save the midfielder’s left-footed volley which looked destined to creep inside the near post.

The game had suddenly sparked to life and tempers began to flare. Matty Taylor was booked for a late lunge on Grealish, while Hutton received the same for a similar diving challenge on Callum O’Dowda.

But just as quickly as the spark had appeared, it went again. By the time Yannick Bolasie replaced Kodjia with 15 minutes to go, the game had begun to drift once more.

It was the hosts who began to find a spark as the clock ticked down and McGinn was in the right place to clear Abraham’s misdirected header off his own line.

Finally Villa began to create some pressure again. Baker hacked a dangerous Grealish cross behind and Maenpaa then saved after the playmaker had opted to shoot from a tight angle.

Hourihane came closest to winning it, curling a shot inches wide. But there was to be no winner.

Teams

Villa (4-3-3): Nyland, Tuanzebe, Chester, Jedinak, Hutton, Bjarnason, McGinn, Hourihane, Grealish, Abraham (Adomah 90), Kodjia (Bolasie 75) Subs not used: Bree, Whelan, Elmohamady, El Ghazi, Moreira (gk).

Bristol C (4-4-2): Maenpaa, Hunt, Webster, Baker, Kelly, O’Dowda (Paterson 68), Brownhill, Pack, Eliasson (Watkins 87), Weimann, Taylor (Diedhiou 68) Subs not used: Dasilva, Walsh, Hegeler, Watkins, O’Leary (gk).