Birmingham draw 1-1 against Aston Villa
Aston Villa finally moved out of the drop zone after a hard fought draw against Birmingham. The home team took the lead first- courtesy of a goal from http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/James-Collins-c17687, later, scored for Aston Villa, following up on a free kick from Gabriel Agbonlahor.
Aston Villa could easily have won the game had their shots been a bit more accurate. The visitors hit the post no less than 4 times. Birmingham also had their fair share of chances, but failed to put them away and had to settle for a point in the end.
Looking at the big picture, one point is not at all sufficient for either of the teams, who linger dangerously in close proximity of the relegation zone. However, there was more to this game than just points- there is a serious rivalry between the two clubs.
Aston Villa manager, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gabriel-Agbonlahor-c14288, it was clear that he was looking to get all 3 points. Villa started the game
on the front foot and it was http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ben-Foster-c7445, the opposition keeper, who made the first mistake; His panic clearance went to Agbonlahor, who tried his luck, but his shot went over the bar, saving Foster from humiliation.
Aston Villa had started with an attacking 4-4-2 line up, while Birmingham had 5 playing in midfield and went with 4-5-1. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/David-Bentley-c10435, who moved to Birmingham on loan from Tottenham, was also in the starting line up and did well in his first game.
After the frenetic opening minutes, the game slowed down. Aston Villa tried persistently to dominate the opposition, with http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Kyle-Walker-c21566 putting up quite a show for the fans.
Birmingham had a great chance of opening their account when the 2nd half kicked off, but Collins did well to divert a good shot sent in by Alexander Hleb. The Blues finally managed to score after 4 minutes in the 2nd half, as Bentley
got on the ball to take one of his trademark free kicks. Gardner found the ball and took his shot, which was going wide, but http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Danny-c10193 Murphy did well to put it back in the danger area, before Johnson volleyed it home to make it 1-0.
Aston Villa would have been ruing the chances they missed earlier, but they knew that the game was open enough to have at least one more goal in it. There were around 15 minutes or so left, when Villa manage to stage a come-back; Albrightgon sent in a dangerous
cross from the right flank to Agbonlahor, who flicked it forward to Collins, who made no mistake in smashing it home from close range. The away team went hard at Birmingham in the last few minutes to get a winner, but Birmingham held on and another derby ended
in a draw. This was also the 4th draw of the day in the Premier League.
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