Aston Villa 1 Blackburn 1: Fabio Capello saw England candidates Scott Carson and Ashley Young make significant contributions but Aston Villa missed out on the chance to climb into a Champions League spot against Mark Hughes's side.

Carson saved a first-half penalty from Matt Derbyshire before Roque Santa Cruz put the visitors ahead after 67 minutes with his 11th league goal of the campaign.

But Young, Villa's most dangerous player, levelled six minutes later with a stunning 20 yard free-kick to boost his chances of being included in the squad to face Switzerland at Wembley in 11 days.

A poor match lacking in quality for long periods only sparked into life in the final quarter.

Villa extended their unbeaten league run to eight matches but failed to secure the victory that would have lifted them into fourth position with a draw a fair result.

Blackburn proved hard to break down as they limited Villa's normally potent atttack to few scoring chances with Steven Reid a combative figure in the centre of the park.

They have now collected eight points from their last four matches away from Ewood Park to press their own claims for a European spot.

And Santa Cruz certainly enjoys being on his travels as 10 of his 11 league goals have been in away games.