Carew earns vital equaliser for Villa against CSKA
Carew earned Villa an important draw in the first leg of their UEFA Cup clash
Also In The News
|
England took control of the third Test in Antigua as they bowled the West Indies out for 285. |  |
Wednesday, 18, Feb 2009 11:06
John Carew snatched a vital equaliser for Aston Villa to take into the second leg of their UEFA Cup tie against CSKA Moscow following a 1-1 draw at Villa Park.
The visitors had taken the lead after 14 minutes when Brazilian striker Vagner Love played his way through the Villa defence and finished a flowing move.
Martin O'Neil's side improved in the second half, putting Moscow under increasing pressure, and Carew's strike was justly deserved.
Despite having not played a competitive game for some time, as the Russian league is in its off-season, CSKA started brightly and broke the deadlock with an excellent goal.
Love dropped deep and received the ball on the half-way line before beating Zat Knight. The Brazilian then played a one-two to get behind the rest of the Villa defence and lashed a shot into the corner of the goal.
Ashley Young did his best to inspire his team down the left flank and created chances for Gabriel Agbonlahor and Carew but both strikers sent their headers narrowly over the crossbar.
The game continued to ebb and flow in the second half and Moscow almost doubled their lead. Love managed to feed Yuri Zhirkov but his shot was just off target.
Villa refused to be deterred and were still creating chances themselves but Craig Gardner was denied by the woodwork after he had found space in the box for a header.
The home side had an appeal for a penalty turned down when Agbonlahor appeared to receive a push in the back when trying to connect with a Young cross.
However, they did not have to wait much longer for the equaliser they craved. Young's initial cross over-shot his intended target but was picked up by Gardner on the right flank.
He then sent in a cross for Carew who fired home from 12 yards out.
Villa continued to push forward and could have snatched a winner but neither Agbonlahor nor Carew could capitalise on those chances.
The second leg will be at the Luzhniki Stadium on February 26th.