Soccer

Torres rescues Aston Villa and angry Emery as Wolves finish with 10 men

Mario Lemina was sent off for picking up a second yellow card during 12 minutes of stoppage time

Pau Torres scores Aston Villa's equaliser during the Premier League game against Aston Villa at Molineux. Photograph: Jan Kruger/Getty Images
Pau Torres scores Aston Villa's equaliser during the Premier League game against Aston Villa at Molineux. Photograph: Jan Kruger/Getty Images
Ben Fisher at Molineux
Sun Oct 08 2023 - 16:35

Wolves 1 Aston Villa 1

Perhaps the biggest surprise in this stop-start and spiky affair between keen rivals was that it took until the 94th minute for someone to see red. Wolves ended this ill-tempered draw with 10 men after Mario Lemina was sent off for picking up a second yellow card during 12 minutes of second-half stoppage time but held on in a nervy finale against Aston Villa to claim a point.

Ezri Konsa and the Villa substitute Nicolò Zaniolo both went close to finding a winner, sidefooting inches wide from a Leon Bailey corner, but ultimately Pau Torres’s first Villa goal cancelled out Hwang Hee-chan’s opener. Wolves earlier missed a chance to regain the lead but Pedro Neto was unable to beat Emiliano Martínez after latching on to an arced cross by Sasa Kalajdzic.

The sight of Unai Emery urging calm to anyone who would listen as the fourth official, Paul Tierney, indicated four additional first-half minutes felt a touch rich given he had spent almost the entire previous 45 haring around his technical area in fury, going haywire at the most innocuous errors. He was apoplectic when Douglas Luiz sent a careless pass astray and seemed close to combusting when John McGinn, his captain, leathered a shot harmlessly wide.

On another occasion the Villa manager gesticulated with Martínez for booting a kick straight to his opposite number, José Sá. Then he asked Tierney why Nélson Semedo escaped a booking for a foul on Lucas Digne. Emery’s attempt to play peacemaker just before half-time followed a contretemps between Rayan Aït-Nouri and McGinn, which led to a war of words between Shaun Derry, the Wolves assistant manager, and the Villa midfielder.

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Suddenly Emery was the one who appeared a picture of serenity. Maybe Emery’s irritation stemmed from the reality that Villa’s best players had been totally nullified by the same three-man defence that shepherded Erling Haaland out of the game when Wolves beat Manchester City a week earlier. Ollie Watkins, who has just signed a new five-year contract, had to feed off scraps and Moussa Diaby, Villa’s record signing, was subdued.

Watkins sparked into life 46 seconds into the second half, forcing a fine fingertip save from Sá, but Villa’s busiest player was McGinn, at least on the basis of his entertaining tussle with Craig Dawson.

Wolves seized the advantage eight minutes into the second half. Neto zoomed to the byline, breezing past Torres and from there he cut the ball back for Hwang, who nipped in front of Konsa to convert from close range.

Their lead lasted little more than a minute, though, Torres making amends by prodding in a clever first-time Watkins cross at the back post. Emery was unmoved in the away dugout, arms folded as Torres pointed to the Villa crest on his chest. Villa’s equaliser also arrived as Wolves’ supporters in the Sir Jack Hayward Stand were mocking their neighbours. This was an afternoon when both teams enjoyed their moment in the sun. − Guardian