Newcastle 1 Aston Villa 1 - Report

Failure to beat a Newcastle team battling against relegation continued a desperate recent run against the bottom six, adding to defeats at Burnley, Sheffield United and a draw at Brighton.

And the manner of the result of sickening. Villa, once more devoid of ideas in attack without Jack Grealish, appeared to have been given a gift four minutes from time when a freak deflection off the knee of Bodymoor Heath academy graduate Ciaran Clark put them ahead.

With the desperate hosts then pushing forward, Dean Smith’s team then squandered chances to further extend their lead before Jamal Lascelles, with virtually the final action of the game, headed an equaliser.

It was a goal which denied Villa a 15th clean sheet of the season, something which had looked guaranteed for much of the night in a match of low quality which suddenly sprang to life in the final minutes.

In the context of the season it also denied them the chance to close the gap on those teams above them in the top half of the table, extending their recent poor run to just one win in six.

It was only the second time Villa had failed to go on and take all three points this season after taking the lead.

Smith made one change from the team which faced Wolves last weekend, teenager Jacob Ramsey returning to midfield in place of Morgan Sanson for his third start in four matches.

Ahmed Elmohamady remained at right-back, with Matty Cash only fit enough for a place on the bench after a month out with a hamstring injury.

Villa were forced into an early change when Betrand Traore was hurt after crashing into an advertising hoarding. Unable to stop himself after a bursting run into the box, the winger was able to hurdle the first barrier around the pitch but then hit the second. After treatment and a brave but brief attempt to play on, he was replaced by Anwar El Ghazi.

The incident came shortly after Newcastle had fashioned the games first chance, Joelinton getting the better of Tyrone Mings and advancing into the box before seeing his shot blocked by Ezri Konsa.

Villa had actually started the better team but, as has typically been the case without Grealish, they looked short of ideas in the final third, with crosses into the box either way off target or comfortably defended.

El Ghazi had Villa’s first effort on target barely two minutes after coming on with a shot from 20 yards out directed straight at Martin Dubravka.

The Newcastle goalkeeper had slightly more trouble when Trezeguet, looking to create something from nothing, burst in from the wing between two defenders and hit a well struck drive which was beaten away.

It was as close as either team came during a first half which turned into something of a slog.

Villa looked to raise the tempo early in the second period, with both El Ghazi and Trezeguet seeing shots blocked, before Elmohamady fizzed the ball across the face of goal with no-one there to apply the finishing touch.

Top scorer Ollie Watkins was experiencing a frustrating evening, starved of service but also struggling to hold the ball up. When he finally did get a chance to run at the home defence he was upended by Emil Krafth, with Konsa heading wide from Matt Targett’s subsequent free-kick.

There was certainly nothing wrong with Newcastle’s appetite to defend, Ciaran Clark sliding in to block a shot from El Ghazi after a long ball over the top from John McGinn had set Trezeguet scampering away.

But the hosts were struggling to cause Villa any trouble at the other end. The most alarm caused to visiting goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was from a misdirected header from his own man Targett.

Smith introduced Sanson and Ross Barkley off the bench as the game began to open up. But Barkley missed the chance to set Watkins away not once but twice, with Konsa having to be alert to clear when Joelinton played the ball dangerously across the Villa box.

Murphy became Newcastle’s first substitute when he replaced Ryan Fraser. Within two minutes he almost scored, hitting a shot off the bar.

With four minutes to go Villa went ahead thanks to a fluke. Targett’s cross was met by Watkins, whose glancing header would have been going well wide were it not for the knee of Clark, which deflected it in off the bar.

Watkins had two chances to put the game to bed after that but hit them too close to Dubravka and it proved costly as Lascelles rose late to deny them victory.

Teams

Newcastle (4-3-1-2): Dubravka, Krafth (Manquillo 83), Lascelles ©, Clark, Dummett, Shelvey, Hayden (Carroll 88), Joelinton, Willock, Fraser (Murphy 79), Gayle Subs not used: Ritchie, Lewis, Hendrick, Fernandez, Longstaff, Darlow (gk).

Villa (4-3-3): Martinez, Elmohamady, Konsa, Mings, Targett, McGinn, Luiz, Ramsey (Sanson 58), Traore (El Ghazi 21), Watkins, Trezeguet (Barkley 67) Subs not used: Cash, Engels, Taylor, Nakamba, Davis, Heaton (gk).