Saturday, March 20, 2010
Aston Villa 2-2 Wolves: Carew double
uk.eurosport.com
Wolverhampton Wanderers were denied a vital three points at Aston Villa as a John Carew brace salvaged a 2-2 draw in the Premier League.
Carew opened the scoring after a quarter of an hour before a Jody Craddock strike and a James Milner own goal gave Wolves the lead. The Norway striker then claimed his second eight minutes from time to rescue Villa from a derby defeat and keep their hopes of finishing fourth alive. The point moved Wolves four points clear of the relegation zone ahead of the rest of Saturday's matches.
Martin O'Neill's side were missing Gabriel Agbonlahor, and Villa certainly missed the striker's pace as they fielded a front pairing of Carew and Emile Heskey.
Villa started the 100th league meeting between the two Midlands rivals brightly, with Carew flashing a shot across goal and Stewart Downing having an effort blocked at the near post by goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann.
They got their reward on 16 minutes with Carew's fifth league goal of the season. Wolves poured men forward after James Collins had lost possession, but they failed to engineer a chance and Villa launched their own break. Ashley Young beat Roland Zubar on the wing and drilled a low ball across the six-yard box which presented Carew with a simple close-range finish.
Wolves drew level midway through the half from a free-kick after a foul on Kevin Doyle by Stiliyan Petrov, for which the Villa captain was booked. David Jones launched the dead-ball in from deep and Zubar laid it off to centre-back Craddock, who beat Brad Friedel for his fifth goal of the season, one less than Wolves' top scorer Doyle.
Jones also had a big hand in the goal that gave Mick McCarthy's side the lead. The midfielder won the ball from Heskey and initiated the break. Jones continued his run into the box and Matt Jarvis pulled a ball back from the byline for him, and as Milner sprinted back to make the challenge he only succeeded in knocking it past his own keeper.
McCarthy made his intent for the second half clear, first bringing on George Elokobi and then Michael Mancienne as he aimed to stifle a Villa fightback.
The home side saw plenty of the ball but despite many crosses being fired in from both flanks their two big strikers were largely frustrated in the air and ineffective on the deck.
Carew glanced one header on target which was a simple catch for Hahnemann, and with another teed himself up for a volley, only to completely miss the ball as he went to strike it.
O'Neill brought on Marc Albrighton and Steve Sidwell, but his side still struggled to unlock a resolute and well-organised Wolves defence.
Sidwell replaced Downing, who was subbed off in front of the watching Fabio Capello, who also saw a below-par performance from Milner and a largely anonymous one from Heskey.
That was until the 82nd minute when the target man controlled and held up a long ball inside the Wolves box before laying it off to Sidwell. The substitute fired a low shot and Carew - level with the last defender as the strike came in - get a telling touch on the ball to guide it past Hahnemann and salvage a point.
Tony Mabert / Eurosport
Source: uk.eurosport.com
uk.eurosport.com
Carew opened the scoring after a quarter of an hour before a Jody Craddock strike and a James Milner own goal gave Wolves the lead. The Norway striker then claimed his second eight minutes from time to rescue Villa from a derby defeat and keep their hopes of finishing fourth alive. The point moved Wolves four points clear of the relegation zone ahead of the rest of Saturday's matches.
Martin O'Neill's side were missing Gabriel Agbonlahor, and Villa certainly missed the striker's pace as they fielded a front pairing of Carew and Emile Heskey.
Villa started the 100th league meeting between the two Midlands rivals brightly, with Carew flashing a shot across goal and Stewart Downing having an effort blocked at the near post by goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann.
They got their reward on 16 minutes with Carew's fifth league goal of the season. Wolves poured men forward after James Collins had lost possession, but they failed to engineer a chance and Villa launched their own break. Ashley Young beat Roland Zubar on the wing and drilled a low ball across the six-yard box which presented Carew with a simple close-range finish.
Wolves drew level midway through the half from a free-kick after a foul on Kevin Doyle by Stiliyan Petrov, for which the Villa captain was booked. David Jones launched the dead-ball in from deep and Zubar laid it off to centre-back Craddock, who beat Brad Friedel for his fifth goal of the season, one less than Wolves' top scorer Doyle.
Jones also had a big hand in the goal that gave Mick McCarthy's side the lead. The midfielder won the ball from Heskey and initiated the break. Jones continued his run into the box and Matt Jarvis pulled a ball back from the byline for him, and as Milner sprinted back to make the challenge he only succeeded in knocking it past his own keeper.
McCarthy made his intent for the second half clear, first bringing on George Elokobi and then Michael Mancienne as he aimed to stifle a Villa fightback.
The home side saw plenty of the ball but despite many crosses being fired in from both flanks their two big strikers were largely frustrated in the air and ineffective on the deck.
Carew glanced one header on target which was a simple catch for Hahnemann, and with another teed himself up for a volley, only to completely miss the ball as he went to strike it.
O'Neill brought on Marc Albrighton and Steve Sidwell, but his side still struggled to unlock a resolute and well-organised Wolves defence.
Sidwell replaced Downing, who was subbed off in front of the watching Fabio Capello, who also saw a below-par performance from Milner and a largely anonymous one from Heskey.
That was until the 82nd minute when the target man controlled and held up a long ball inside the Wolves box before laying it off to Sidwell. The substitute fired a low shot and Carew - level with the last defender as the strike came in - get a telling touch on the ball to guide it past Hahnemann and salvage a point.
Tony Mabert / Eurosport
Source: uk.eurosport.com
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