Midlands foes share spoils

Wolves and Aston Villa drew 1-1 at Molineux on Saturday in a Midlands derby that will not live long in the memory.

Agbonlahor's opener cancelled out by Ebanks-Blake's penalty

Wolves and Aston Villa drew 1-1 at Molineux on Saturday in a Midlands derby that will not live long in the memory. There was a buoyant mood ahead of kick-off, but the match failed to live up to expectations before Gabriel Agbonlahor's second-half goal was cancelled out by Sylvan Ebanks-Blake's penalty. The first half opened in explosive fashion, with Agbonlahor wasting a glorious opportunity for Villa, and Kevin Doyle unsuccessfully claiming a penalty after a clash with Richard Dunne. But that action could not be replicated as Wolves overplayed in promising positions and Villa offered little threat before half-time. The pattern continued after the interval, but Agbonlahor appeared to have won the game for Villa when scoring from close range in the 79th minute. Wolves, though, were back on level terms four minutes later when Steve Sidwell felled Michael Kightly, and Ebanks-Blake made no mistake from the spot. Villa looked only a shadow of the side which had taken seven points from three meetings with Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea in recent weeks. And it will be of concern to manager Martin O'Neill that they have in contrast dropped points against the likes of Wigan, Blackburn and now their struggling Midlands rivals.

Golden chance

Agbonlahor missed a golden chance to put the visitors ahead inside the first 90 seconds. A long clearance from goalkeeper Brad Friedel, making his 199th consecutive Premier League appearance, bounced straight through to the England player who found himself with only Wayne Hennessey to beat. But the 23-year-old sent a first-time, weak, low shot straight at the Wolves shot-stopper. Wolves retaliated and appeared to have strong claims for a penalty rejected by referee Peter Walton when central defender Dunne held back Doyle as he looked to burst clear. Wolves were not overawed by their high-riding opponents and midfielder Christophe Berra was only just off target with a glancing header from Karl Henry's angled ball into the Villa box. Agbonlahor saw plenty of the ball and had one shot blocked by the head bandaged and impressive Jody Craddock when well positioned. Then Sidwell just failed to take a pass from Agbonlahor in his stride after making a run into the Wolves box. James Milner came to Villa's rescue when he cleared a goal-bound effort which hit the shoulder of Doyle from an inswinging Kightly corner. Ebanks-Blake hooked the ball over the bar from close range following yet another Kightly centre. Then Blake headed wide from a Kightly free-kick when well placed.

Mistake

Villa began the second half on the offensive and a cross from Young picked out Sidwell but his downward header was weak and did not trouble Hennessey. O'Neill's men now looked more purposeful and a mistake by Edwards allowed Stiliyan Petrov to release Ashley Young. But, after cutting inside, the England winger curled his shot well wide of Hennessey's left hand post. Carew became the first player to be yellow-carded after 55 minutes for a touch-line challenge on Zubar. Villa were becoming frustrated and Stephen Warnock was also booked for showing dissent toward one of referee Walton's assistants. Ronald Zubar was the next player to go in the book for a challenge on Ashley Young. Hennessey was fortunate after hesitating when dealing with a Milner cross as Agbonlahor just failed to get a touch at the far post. Young then screwed a 20-yard effort well wide after being released by Agbonlahor as Villa started to enjoy more possession. Hennessey parried over a shot from a narrow angle by Agbonlahor after he had got past Craddock. Sidwell was then unfortunate when his goal-bound shot was blocked by his own player in Dunne. Agbonlahor gave Villa the lead with his sixth goal in eight games after being teed up by Heskey. But Ebanks-Blake rescued a point for Wolves from the penalty spot after Sidwell had brought down Kightly.

Wolverhampton Wanderers	Team Statistics	Aston Villa
1	Goals	1
0	1st Half Goals	0
2	Shots on Target	3
6	Shots off Target	3
4	Blocked Shots	4
8	Corners	3
12	Fouls	17
2	Offsides	3
1	Yellow Cards	2
0	Red Cards	0
65.8	Passing Success	70.1
18	Tackles	23
83.3	Tackles Success	82.6
48.4	Possession	51.6
53.4	Territorial Advantage	46.6