(Football news) Aston Villa’s Danny Ings grabbed a late goal to secure a 1-1 home draw with fellow relegation rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers after trailing for much of the match. Ings scored 12 minutes from time to level after Daniel Podence handed Wolves an early lead and hoped that his goal helped them move out of the relegation zone. Podence showed some brilliant trickery with his footwork before firing home a left-footed shot in the 12th minute as Wolves made a bright start in their third Premier League game under new manager Julen Lopetegui.
Ings’ goal ensured that Wolves stayed second from bottom after the draw at Villa Park while their hosts moved up one place to 11th position. Villa were denied an equaliser in the 75th minute when a left-footed volley from Augustinsson was kept out by Wolves defender Max Kilman. Three minutes later, a long ball from Tyrone Mings was brilliantly brought down by Ings, who then profited from a slip by Sa to score his sixth league goal of the season. The hosts might have won with the last touch of the game as Leon Bailey went round Sa but he fluffed his chance and put it wide with the goal at his mercy.
Taiwo Awoniyi scored a crucial goal and lifted Nottingham Forest out of the relegation zone with their first away win of the Premier League season as Southampton remained at the bottom of the table. Forest’s 1-0 victory, came after Brennan Johnson pounced on a 27th minute error by Brazilian defender Lyanco who virtually set up the Nigerian international for a tap-in. Southampton, have the Premier League’s worst home record as they squandered early chances with Che Adams firing wide after six minutes and were booed off after a first half with no shots on target.
The boos continued after the final whistle as the Saints have now lost their first four league games under new manager Nathan Jones. The manager made a triple substitution in the 64th minute but the Forest defence negated that threat very easily. Steve Cooper’s side, who have the league’s worst away record, had not scored away since a 1-1 draw at Everton last August. Forest, who had held Chelsea to a 1-1 draw at home on New Year’s Day, went from 18th to 15th with 17 points as they also gave a debut to new Brazilian signing Gustavo Scarpa. History was also made with Bhupinder Singh Gill becoming the Premier League’s first Sikh-Punjabi assistant referee.
“When the game settled I thought we were by far the better team in the first half, we looked a real threat,” Cooper told Sky Sports. “We scored a good goal, brilliant decision-making from Brennan and Taiwo was able to put it in. I don’t think [goalkeeper] Dean [Henderson] has made a save, I don’t think there was a [Southampton] shot on goal. We didn’t think about Southampton and league positions and all that sort of stuff, it was just about us being what we were tonight and because of that we got the rightful result.”
“We gifted them the goal,” Nathan Jones said after the match. “We know they are a counter-attacking side and if you play square balls or risk balls in the midfield, you give the ball away then you are susceptible to that. We did that and they got the goal. We never demonstrated enough quality in possession… we had 60% of possession and didn’t convert that into chances and that’s the frustrating thing.”
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