West Brom 0 - 0 Aston Villa

West Brom 0 - 0 Aston Villa

Jordan Ayew denied penalty for Aston Villa in dull draw with West Brom


West Bromwich Albion’s Darren Fletcher, right, competes for the ball with Aston Villa’s Rudy Gestede at The Hawthorns.

Out of luck and running out of time. Aston Villa remain nine points from safety and after this dreary draw, the Championship looms even larger on the horizon. An improved performance was heartening but that is not enough to extract them from this perilous position. Clean sheets are well and good, too, but Rémi Garde’s team have reached a juncture where only victories are sufficient.

Villa’s effort could not be questioned and they might have had a penalty but a dearth of quality in the final third was evident throughout. West Bromwich Albion, meanwhile, could still find themselves in a relegation fight. They were defensively resilient but failed to register an attempt on target. Four games without a win, Tony Pulis’s team are only seven points clear of the bottom three.

“It was encouraging but frustrating,” Garde said. “If you look at how we played I am pleased and our collective spirit is much better than a few weeks ago. We had the ball in their half many times, passing the ball well, but in the last third we had too many difficulties scoring.”

While the game did open up somewhat in the latter stages, Jordan Ayew had the only attempt of note in an insipid opening half, striking low at Ben Foster, who was making his first league appearance since last March.

Ayew, often Villa’s only beacon of hope during this season of despair, was also unlucky not to have a won a penalty in the 24th minute when Jonas Olsson slid in from behind. Instead a corner was given but there was certain contact. “Never a penalty,” the West Brom manager, Tony Pulis said, before bursting into laughter and walking off. His actions spoke loudest. Garde, on the other hand, would not be drawn. “Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t,” he said. “Sometimes you get a penalty, sometimes you don’t, but I respect the referee.”

While Villa had almost two-thirds of possession, Albion were predictably tight. The hosts, though, showed even less attacking intent. Stéphane Sessègnon started lively and Salomón Rondón hurried Joleon Lescott and Jores Okore into some early nervy clearances, but it says much for the shortage of entertainment that that was as exciting as things got for them. Sessègnon shot over seven minutes into the second half and Rondón was closer to hitting the roof of the Birmingham Road End than the net when set up by Craig Dawson.

The Villa substitute Rudy Gestede threatened to make an impact, climbing above Gareth McAuley only to head Ashley Westwood’s cross wide soon after coming on, but just as it looked like they were building up some steam Gestede pulled his right hamstring. Sixteen minutes after being introduced he was replaced by Jordan Veretout, who was about to be swapped with Micah Richards. Yet Villa were so wonderfully close to turning the misfortune around when a minute later Richards headed over a Veretout corner. Seconds from the end Leandro Bacuna fired high and wide and with that Villa’s hope of a first away since the opening day evaporated.

Guardian