Ashley Westwood capped a superb second half fightback from Aston Villa as the visitors rescued a 2-2 draw at local rivals West Bromwich Albion on Monday.
Paul
Lambert's side looked destined for a derby defeat at the Hawthorns
after Albion raced into a two-goal lead within the first 11 minutes
thanks to a pair of fine goals from Shane Long.
But
Villa struck twice in the space of nine minutes after the break as
Karim El Ahmadi reduced the deficit before Westwood's first goal for the
club ensured the two midlands teams remain level on 15 points in the
Premier League table.
Villa have now gone six matches without a win against Albion, with their last success coming three years ago.
Steve
Clarke's hosts will be kicking themselves for finishing with just one
point after a blistering start threatened to blow Villa away.
Only
three minutes had been played when Republic of Ireland striker Long
showed sublime technique to control Chris Brunt's long pass with one
touch before flicking the ball away from Villa's Nathan Baker and firing
into the net from the edge of the penalty area.
Long
produced another memorable strike eight minutes later when he pounced
on a misplaced pass from Leandro Bacuna and accelerated away from Baker
before clipping a chip over Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan and in off the
crossbar.
Villa were shell-shocked and
Stephane Sessegnon should have added to their misery moments later, but
he somehow managed to fluff his lines when presented with a simple
close-range chance by Morgan Amalfitano.
The visitors finally sparked into life before half-time when Libor Kozak hit the bar from Christian Benteke's flick.
Long and Benteke both went close to scoring in the final minutes of the half, but there was more drama to come.
Villa's Andreas Weimann tested Albion goalkeeper Boaz Myhill with a fierce shot that deflected off Jonas Olsson.
And
Lambert's men got one back in the 67th minute when Weimann headed into
the penalty area and Morocco midfielder El Ahmadi took advantage of
hesitation from Myhill to hook home on the turn.
Former Crewe midfielder Westwood had gone 41 games without a goal for Villa since his £2m move from Crewe in August 2012.
But he ended that drought in the 76th minute and salvaged a point in the process.
Gabriel
Agbonlahor's cross was headed away by Goran Popov and Westwood seized
possession 25 yards out, hitting a low, swerving drive which flew past
Myhill's despairing dive.
