By Andrew Cawthorne
BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters) -High-flying Aston Villa had to settle for a 1-1 draw against Bournemouth after a last-gasp Evanilson header cancelled out Ross Barkley’s opener for the dominant hosts in the Premier League on Saturday.
Though devastated to concede at the death, Unai Emery’s team nevertheless moved up to third in the table with 18 points and extended their unbeaten run to 11 games in all competitions.
“We deserved to win, we dominated,” Emery said. “They scored in the last moment and we have to accept it. But we were fantastic again, really I’m very happy.”
Buoyed by another Champions League win in midweek, Villa peppered Bournemouth’s goal from the off, squandering a host of chances before second-half substitute Barkley hooked in from close range in the 76th minute from a Leon Bailey knock-down.
Bournemouth had defended stoutly throughout but went looking for an equaliser in added time and got it when Brazilian forward Evanilson lost his marker and glanced Marcus Tavernier’s superb free-kick past Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez.
The 96th minute goal, with the final touch of the match, sent the away fans into delirium and gave Bournemouth a barely-deserved share of the spoils that put them 10th on 12 points.
MISSED CHANCES
Before then, Bournemouth goalkeeper Mark Travers had pulled off a string of spectacular saves to deny Villa. The home side also saw a first-half goal disallowed after the ball went millimetres out of play before John McGinn put it in the net.
Villa’s Amadou Onana, Ezri Konsa, Pau Torres, Ollie Watkins and Jhon Duran saw chances saved or go just wide, to the frustration of another bumper and expectant crowd at Villa Park.
“You feel intimidation here and it is tough to survive but we kept in and got the draw,” said Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola, praising Travers for keeping the visitors in the game.
“It is always nice when you have a point at the end in the last minute of the game. I don’t feel we played well but we competed well. It was a great goal in a great moment,” the Spaniard added of the last-second equaliser.
(Reporting by Andrew Cawthorne; editing by Clare Fallon and Ken Ferris)
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