Aston Villa vs Stoke 2018-12-15 result

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Event
Aston Villa vs Stoke

Date
Sat 15th December 2018 (UTC)

Timestamp

Time

00:00:00 UTC

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League
English League Championship

Season
2018-2019

Round
22

Status

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		vs
	2 No timeline found..		2 No timeline found..

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Description

HT: 0-0
Goalscorers:
Aston Villa: Abraham (73' minutes pen), Kodjia (84' minutes)
Stoke City: Allen (47' minutes), Afobe (78' minutes pen)

Aston Villa and Stoke City shared the spoils in a pulsating draw which saw the home side twice come from behind to seal a point.

After a goalless but entertaining first half, Stoke scored with the first meaningful action of the second, when Joe Allen burst into the box ahead of John McGinn to drill home.

Villa responded well and Jonathan Kodjia, who had only been on the pitch for a couple of minutes, was fouled in the area, giving Villa a penalty. Tammy Abraham stepped up to calmly slot in his 12th goal of the season.

But Villa were only on level terms for five minutes after James McClean was tripped in the box, giving Stoke a penalty of their own. Benik Afobe beat Orjan Nyland from 12 yards to put The Potters back in front.

Substitute Kodjia met a Yannick Bolasie cross to head home and make it 2-2 in the 84th minute, forcing both sides to settle for a point at a rain-drenched Villa Park.

Stoke had the better of the early chances with Villa goalkeeper Nyland twice called into action. In the sixth minute he denied Allen from Tom Ince's cutback and five minutes later, saved well from McClean's long-range effort.

But Villa then came back into the game with Butland tested when an inswinging corner looked to be dipping into the net. The England goalkeeper also saved smartly shortly afterwards when he tipped over a well-struck free kick from Conor Hourihane.

Relive Saturday's EFL action as it happened

Both sides had spells of pressure as the half wore on with Allen having one of the better openings, but hitting his left-footed shot wide, meaning the teams went in all-square at the break.

After Allen's opener, Villa responded well to going behind with striker Abraham forcing Butland into a good save and in-form Anwar El-Ghazi close to connecting with an Alan Hutton cross.

Stoke almost doubled their lead on the hour mark with a similar move to their goal, but this time the influential Allen fired over.

Kodjia replaced El-Ghazi in the 66th minute and was quickly involved as he was fouled in the penalty area, with Abraham converting the spot-kick.

But they were unable to build on the goal as Stoke were awarded a penalty of their own just five minutes later, which Afobe tucked away.

With time running out, it was Kodjia who had the last word as he headed home Bolasie's cross to send the Villa fans into raptures.

The result leaves Villa three points off the promotion places in eighth and Stoke three places behind in 11th.

Aston Villa manager Dean Smith told BBC WM 95.6:

"I think it was a deserved point for both teams. I didn't think there was an awful lot in that game today and the conditions probably levelled out the home advantage.

"It made it a scrappy game and we were a little sloppy. We got into really good areas in the first half but our delivery wasn't quite there. We spoke about getting balls in behind their centre halves but we gave them heading practice really.

"Credit to the lads, Kodjia has come on and won the penalty and scored an equaliser at the end. I think it was a fair result.

"We know we've got goals in us but we weren't creating too many clear cut chances. People raise their game when they play us as that's as well as I've seen Stoke play."

Stoke City assistant boss Callum Davidson told BBC Radio Stoke:

"It's one of of those, we're leading and think we played well enough, we got in good areas to see the game off and disappointed with that. We're disappointed with the second goal.

"We've come to Villa who are tipped for promotion and we showed we are capable of going all the way.

"Draws keep momentum going, we need to start turning them into wins though, we're on a good run, but we need to be a bit more clinical and composed in the final third and then defensively see the game out."