Friday 30 December 2016 06:22, UK
Jonathan Kodjia's late penalty nicked a point for Aston Villa as they drew 1-1 with Leeds in the Sky Bet Championship on Thursday night.
Liam Cooper's rash handball allowed Kodjia to slot home from the spot in the 86th minute at Villa Park, cancelling out Pontus Jansson's headed opener for Leeds earlier in the second half.
Garry Monk's side would have risen to third in the table if they had managed to hold on for victory, but instead end the day a place lower in fourth. Villa, meanwhile, climb to ninth, five points off the play-off places.
Villa were nearly gifted the opener after less than two minutes as Kalvin Phillips played a dangerous backpass right into the path of Kodjia in the Leeds area. Luckily for Phillips, though, his team-mate Jansson got across to deny the striker before he could get a shot away.
In terms of chances, though, that was pretty much as good as it got in the first half, with both sides defending resiliently and keeping opportunities for the opposition to a minimum.
The second half, however, was a far more entertaining affair almost from the off, and after 54 minutes Leeds had the lead. It was defender Jansson who got the goal, as Villa goalkeeper Mark Bunn failed to stop his header from a Stuart Dallas corner squirming over the line.
Falling behind rattled Villa, and it could have been even worse just a couple of minutes later as Jansson, once again at a corner, was afforded far too much space to take a touch just inside the area and rattle the crossbar with a fierce volley.
Leeds looked like they were going to hold on until Cooper's daft handball in the final few minutes, the defender jumping with his arm aloft as he challenged Villa sub Rudy Gestede in the air, leaving referee Roger East with no option but to award the penalty before Kodjia did the damage from the spot.
That was not to be the end of the action as both sides had great chances to win it in the closing stages. First Hadi Sacko nearly capitalised on a Jordan Amavi mistake, getting in behind before rattling the Villa crossbar.
The home side then went up the other end and saw Kodjia force a fine save out of Rob Green from close range, the last real opportunity of the game as the spoils were shared.
