Bristol City 1 Aston Villa 1: Birkir Bjarnason salvages point for Steve Bruce’s men
Villa returned home with a share of the spoils thanks to timely equaliser from Bjarnason at the end of the first half
BIRKIR BJARNASON salvaged a point to ease the pressure on boss Steve Bruce.
Villa have only won once in the last eight games, but this draw made it four points from a possible nine and leaves them two points off the play-off places.
Iceland international Birkir Bjarnason stunned Ashton Gate with a leveller two minutes into added time before the break after winger Jack Grealish was fouled by defender Jack Hunt.
Fellow midfielder Conor Hourihane sent over a deep free kick from the left flank and Bjarnason buried his header past helpless keeper Niki Maenpaa from ten yards for his second of the campaign.
Robins midfielder Josh Brownhill opened the scoring with his second of the season in the sixteenth minute.
Striker Andreas Weimann evaded a couple of challenges on a mazy run on goal and was stopped by central defender Mile Jedinak, but the ball fell to Brownhill who drilled his low shot past Norway international keeper Orjan Nyland from the edge of the box.
City dominated possession in the first half and Weimann should have put them ahead in the fifth minute.
Winger Niclas Eliasson’s cross from the right was met by Weimann at the far post, but he somehow managed to put his diving header over the bar from four yards.
Former City strikers Jonathan Kodjia and Tammy Abraham combined to find the back of the net five minutes later, but Chelsea loanee Abraham gave Maenpaa a sly nudge before tapping in and the foul was spotted by ref Tim Robinson.
Local lad Grealish signed a new five year deal this week and was closely watched by City’s defence as Villa showed more intent at the start of the second period.
In the 50th minute he was up-ended by Hunt again and Hourihane’s cross caused chaos in the City box before the ball was eventually hacked clear.
Midfielder John McGinn scored a scorcher as Villa lost to Sheffield Wednesday at the weekend and showed it was no fluke in the 55th minute when he fired in a volley from the left angle of the box that Maenpaa did well to push past his near post.
Former Villa central defender Nathan Baker came close to sealing the win in the 81st minute, but glanced a near post header over the bar after meeting Eliasson’s corner.
And McGinn and full back Alan Hutton needed to be sharp in the 84th minute to clear a Baker header off the line following another Eliasson corner.
Two minutes later Grealish forced Maenpaa to palm his shot from an acute angle past his near post.
And in the 90th minute Hourihane curled a twenty yard shot just wide as the Villans showed they were prepared to fight for their gaffer.
