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Follow us on Twitter @claretandview // Words by Harry Trend (@HazaTrand)
Substitute Henri Lansbury was Villa’s saviour as we took a respectable point from Elland Road.
It’s a point which we probably wouldn’t have won last season, but this side is a much more stubborn one compared to last.
Leeds had most of the early possession, but we had the first real chance. Albert Adomah took down Alan Hutton’s cross field ball before his weak attempt was gathered by Wiedwald in the Leeds goal.
With just under a quarter of the game gone, Pontus Jansson made it 1-0. The Swedish defender rising above Samba from a corner to head home.
Unfortunately, our best opportunity of the half came to Glenn Whelan, dragging Keinan Davis’ pullback unhandsomely wide.
As a whole, the first half was pretty much a write off for Villa. We struggled to create anything clear cut and every time Davis got the ball there were two or three men on him.
Moreover, our players looked tired. Something needed to change in the second-half.
And it did, eventually. As in the first half, lot’s of bitty fouls slowed the game down.
How Alan Hutton went so long without getting booked I will never know. The Scotsman was extremely close to completely losing his temper and our numerical advantage. But that’s why we love him.
Still, there were chances for both teams. Adomah had a shot saved by the legs of Wiedwald, and Leeds came even closer when three Whites players came just inches away of getting a touch on Samuel Saiz’ cross. Yes three.
In fact, Leeds did have the ball in the back of the net in the second half. However, captain Liam Cooper was adjudged to be offside when he headed in a floated free-kick.
At this point we were really struggling in midfield. Bruce brought on Jack Grealish and Henri Lansbury for Josh Onomah and Connor Hourihane in an attempt to rectify this.
And it worked! Six minutes after coming on Lansbury took the ball off Grealish before driving forward and finding the bottom corner via the post.
Overall, Lansbury really changed the pace in midfield. Looking like a man not content with sitting on Villa’s bench, and so he shouldn’t.
You got the feeling that all Villa needed was a striker to replace the weary Davis late on. Annoyingly, we didn’t have one on the bench.
Nevertheless, I think most Villa fans will take the point going into the Millwall game a week Saturday.
