{"id":294082,"date":"2023-10-08T16:24:43","date_gmt":"2023-10-08T16:24:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/?p=294082"},"modified":"2023-10-08T16:24:43","modified_gmt":"2023-10-08T16:24:43","slug":"wolves-cling-on-to-claim-point-against-high-flying-aston-villa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allmysportsnews.com\/soccer\/wolves-cling-on-to-claim-point-against-high-flying-aston-villa\/","title":{"rendered":"Wolves cling on to claim point against high-flying Aston Villa"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n
Aston Villa missed the chance to climb into the Premier League\u2019s top four after a 1-1 draw at Wolves.<\/p>\n
Pau Torres\u2019 equaliser, just two minutes after Hwang-Hee Chan\u2019s opener, saw them come from behind at Molineux.<\/p>\n
Mario Lemina was sent off in stoppage time for a second booking and Ollie Watkins hit the post with the final touch of the match.<\/p>\n
Liverpool\u2019s 2-2 draw at Brighton opened the door for Villa to move into the Champions League spots but they never did enough for victory.<\/p>\n
Wolves earned another solid point following last week\u2019s swashbuckling 2-1 win over Manchester City to continue their progress under Gary O\u2019Neil.<\/p>\n
The manager would have been encouraged by another gritty performance and with better finishing from Pedro Neto it would have been another victory.<\/p>\n
It was Villa, though, who started the brighter as Torres miscued a header and Jose Sa turned Matty Cash\u2019s angled effort behind before John McGinn twice fired off target.<\/p>\n
It preceded a good spell for Wolves, the hosts attempting to stamp their authority on the game without ever testing Emi Martinez.<\/p>\n
Their final ball continued to elude them until Hwang crossed for Rayan Ait-Nouri to steer wide after 33 minutes.<\/p>\n
Yet it was the hosts\u2019 one decent chance of the half and they needed Lemina to rush out and block Douglas Luiz\u2019s shot just before the break.<\/p>\n
Villa\u2019s start to the season, which had lifted them to fifth, was their second best in the Premier League but there were signs of tiredness and the visitors\u2019 decision to resort to gamesmanship early belied the quality they have.<\/p>\n
They emerged for the second half sharper, though, and Jose Sa turned over when Watkins directed McGinn\u2019s pass goalwards.<\/p>\n
It was a brief spark from Villa but there was little surprise when Wolves grabbed the lead after 53 minutes.<\/p>\n
Douglas Luiz was caught by Hwang with the ball worked wide to Neto who ran at Torres. He engineered enough space to cross low for Hwang to poke in his fifth league goal of the season from close range.<\/p>\n
But the celebrations were cut short just two minutes later when Villa hit back. The hosts failed to clear from Douglas Luiz\u2019s free kick and Watkins\u2019 cute cross was turned in by Torres.<\/p>\n
It raised hopes the scrappy and, sometimes, ill-tempered game would take a step up in quality but neither side were able to ram home an advantage.<\/p>\n
Wolves wanted a penalty when Neto tumbled under pressure from Boubacar Kamara while Villa failed to threaten Sa again.<\/p>\n
With 12 minutes left, Neto should have settled the game when Sasa Kalajdzic\u2019s excellent cross found Wolves\u2019 star man, only for him to blaze over from 10 yards.<\/p>\n
The hosts then had to see out eight of the 12 minutes of stoppage time \u2013 during which Watkins, Douglas Luiz and Nicolo Zaniolo went close \u2013 with 10 men when Lemina was dismissed for a second yellow card, after tugging back the Italian forward.<\/p>\n
Watkins almost snatched it with the final touch of the game when his header smacked the base of the post.<\/p>\n