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  • Agbonlahor (50)
  • Heskey (21)
  • Date:2007-04-09
  • Kick-off:15:00
  • Venue:Villa Park
  • Attendance:31920
  • Referee:Halsey, M

Live Commentary

90mins

Full time at Villa Park and both teams have to settle for a draw

90mins

Wigan luck to have just done enough to scrape a point from the game as they continue to defend resolutely

90mins

The fourth official indicates three minutes of added time

88mins

Patrick Berger fired a shot accross the goal with Agbonlahor just not getting there to touch it into the net

87mins

Aston Villa are reverting to the long ball with only a few minutes remaining

85mins

Caleb Folan comes on to replace Emile Heskey

83mins

John Filan is lucky to still be on the pitch after escaping a second yellow card for kicking the ball away

81mins

Wigan are putting their ten men behind the ball and doing everything they can to prevent Villa from getting another goal

79mins

John Filan is booked for time wasting by Mark Halsey

77mins

Ashley Young again wasted possession in the final third of the pitch as he hit a cross out of play without any real pressure from Wigan

75mins

Wigan survived another scare after John Filan punched the ball the clear and then tipped it away off the line from a corner

74mins

The Aston Villa fans are trying to get behind their side as they are still pushing on for that winning goal

72mins

Matt Jackson headed the ball out of the box, only for it to fall to Ashley Young who wasted a shot that went high and wide of the goal

69mins

Luke Moore replaces Shaun Maloney

66mins

Patrick Berger did his best to get two consecutive shots off at goal, only for Josip Skoko to throw himself in the way of the ball

64mins

Aston Villa are finding it difficult to break Wigan down and are beginning to look frustrated with themselves

62mins

A group of stewards have positioned themselves around the Wigan dougout to presumably protect Paul Jewell from any supporters

60mins

Phil Bardsley played the ball through to Ashley Young who was clattered by Leighton Baines and won a free kick

58mins

Paul Jewell reacts to a fan behind the dougout after someone looked to have give the Wigan manager some stick

56mins

Wigan are under pressure and doing well to deal with Villa at the minute

54mins

Gabriel Agbonlahor ran through on goal but hit his shot amelessly wide

52mins

Gareth Barry did well to find Gardener in a good position to shoot, but the linesman flagged him offside

50mins

GOAL!! Aston Villa 1 - 1 Wigan (AGBONLAHOR) Gabriel Agbonlahor claims the goal but it looks like a Matt Jackson own goal may be awarded

48mins

Paul Scharner looks in pain after Emile Heskey accidently landed on his leg

46mins

Ryan Taylor replaces David Unsworth as a half time substitution

46mins

Aston Villa get the game back underway for the second half

45mins

Wigan hang onto their 1-0 lead despite being down to ten men at the break

44mins

Thomas Sorenson did well to catch the ball under pressure from McCulloch after Wigan had swung a free kick into the box

42mins

Ashley Young with his first touch since coming on and did well to get to the dead ball line, winning a corner off Leighton Baines

40mins

Craig Gardener put the ball into the back of the net but Mark Halsey had already blew his whistle for handball

38mins

Villa are bringing on Ashley Young for Wilfred Bouma who is wounded off the horrific challenge from Valencia

36mins

Paul Jewell's men will now have to play nearly an hour of the match with ten men after being in a fantastic position with the 1-0 lead

34mins

Antonio Valencia is shown a straight red card from referee Halsey after an awful two-footed challenge on Wilfred Bouma

32mins

Denny Landzaat fired a shot just wide of the post from twenty five yards out

29mins

Stilian Petrov booked for deliberately bringing Kilbane down

28mins

Emile Heskey brought the ball down well for Kilbane to run onto but the Irishman is brought down cynically by Petrov

26mins

Gabriel Agbonlahor is penalised for a late challenge on David Unsworth and lucky to get away without a booking

24mins

Villa Park is silenced as their complete domination is thrown out the window

22mins

GOAL!! Aston Villa 0 - 1 Wigan (MCCULLOCH) Lee McCulloch scrambled the ball into the Villa net to put Wigan infront against the run of play

20mins

Emile Heskey was caught offside, much to the amusement of the Villa fans who are jeering the former Birmingham man

18mins

Gabriel Agbonlahor caused Wigan a problem with his fierce pace, but 'Keeper John Filan came to the rescue and smuthered the ball from the striker

16mins

Lovely football from Villa with Gareth Barry playing a beautiful ball through to Shaun Maloney who was controversially caught offside

14mins

Berger looks to be ok for now and certainly looked more than ok as he fired in a stinging shot that just flew over the bar

12mins

Play has been stopped for attention to be given to Berger who has gone down with an injury

10mins

Berger in the thick of the action again, with a curling left foot shot which John Filan tipped round the post

8mins

Patrick Berger and Agbonlahor linked well once again, and Agbonlahor swung his leg to shoot but David Unsworth made a brilliant blocking tackle to deny him

6mins

Kevin Kilbane made a striding run down the left and skipped past Phil Bardsley, but Olaf Mellberg cleared the ball to safety

5mins

Aston Villa won the first corner of the game, but Patrick Berger's cross was too high and went out for a goal kick

4mins

David Unsworth just managed to get his body in the way of a cross which zipped into the box after Agbonlahor had left Fitz Hall for dead

2mins

Gabriel Agbonlahor did well to get his shot on target but John Filan managed to parry it away

1mins

Mark Halsey blows his whistle and Wigan get the game underway

0mins

Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancarshire)

0mins

Martin O'Neill keeps the same starting line-up that beat Blackburn on Saturday, though he does have Ashley young available for a place on the bench after his recovery from injury, but John Carew is still injured.

0mins

Wigan make three changes to the team that lost to Bolton on Saturday, Ryan Taylor, Caleb Folan and Arjan De Zeeuw all drop out. Paul Jewell will be looking for three points today as his team look to move away from the relegation zone.

0mins

Aston Villa Line-up: Sorensen, Bardsley, Mellberg, Laursen, Bouma, Gardner, Petrov, Berger, Barry, Maloney, Agbonlahor

0mins

Wigan Line-up: Filan, Hall, Jackson, Baines, Unsworth, Valencia, Scharner, Landzaat, Kilbane, Heskey, McCulloch

Match Preview


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Match Report

Aston Villa's young gun, Gabby Agbonlahor, grabbed his eighth Premiership goal of the season but it was not sufficient to destroy Wigan.

The gallant North-West side, fighting for Premiership survival, battled gamely after they had been reduced to only ten men after the 34th minute sending off of Antonio Valencia.

Seemingly against all the odds, Wigan, inspired by their Australian goalkeeper, John Filan, held out to grab a vital point against a Villa side which still lacks the finishing touch.

It may have been Villa's 2000th league game at Villa Park but they had little reason to celebrate as they failed yet again to record their first ever league win over Wigan.

Villa's performance was hardly a surprise as they have never scored more than two goals in a match this season.

They were expected to have been boosted by their weekend success at Blackburn but it was not the case.

Agbonlahor's speed was significant and he posed numerous problems for the likes of Matt Jackson and David Unsworth but Villa failed to cash in as Wigan held out to earn a worthy draw.

Wigan themselves were not without the capability to create a surprise as they demonstrated in the 22nd minute when Emile Heskey opened the scoring following a left-wing corner from Denny Landzaat.

The ball was nudged on by Lee McCulloch for the well-built Wigan striker to notch his eighth goal of the season despite strong protests that Thomas Sorensen had been hampered.

With Patrik Berger showing fine form, Villa were able to mount several promising attacks but Agbonlahor wasted a glorious chance when he outpaced Jackson only to shoot straight at Filan.

Wigan's hopes of improving their somewhat precarious situation suffered a serious setback in the 34th minute when Valencia was sent off for a two-footed, lunging tackle on Wilfred Bouma, who subsequently had to be replaced by Ashley Young.

Although Stiliyan Petrov was again off the pace Villa completely dominated the second period as they bombarded Wigan's defence.

They forced themselves back into the game with a 50th minute equaliser from Agbonlahor.

Skipper Gareth Barry sent Berger clear and his cross was turned goalwards by the young Villa striker and the ball crossed the line despite a desperate clearance by Leighton Baines, who was subsequently booked as he continued to argue a goal should not have been allowed.

Baines then cleared an Olof Mellberg header off the line and this was quickly followed by Filan pushing the Villa defender's second header onto the post.

Aston Villa

Wigan Athletic

Corners

131

Fouls

1111

Goal attempts

142

Shots off target

61

Offsides

30

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