U23s: Reading 2-2 Aston Villa

Aston Villa Under-23s played out a hard-fought draw against Reading in Premier League 2 on Monday night.

The Young Lions came from behind twice to earn a point, with Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan grabbing a brace for the home side.

Tristan Abldeen-Goodridge won and scored a penalty as Villa trailed 2-1 at half-time before Finley Thorndike grabbed an equaliser with five minutes left.

The result keeps the Villans fourth in the table ahead of their next game against Burnley later in the month.

With the international break now underway, Villa were without a number of players as they looked to end a run of two consecutive league defeats.

And the game didn’t start well for the Young Lions, who fell behind after 11 minutes when Josh Feeney was robbed of possession on the edge of his own box, allowing Ehibhatiomhan to steal in and chip Filip Marschall.

Caleb Chukwuemeka, returning after a two-game absence, headed over at the back post with Villa’s best chance of the early stages, but it was his opposite number, Ehibhatiomhan, who was having the biggest impact on the game.

The big striker drove at the heart of the defence before laying off to Mamadi Camara, with Claudio Osario eventually striking the post.

That miss proved costly for The Royals when after 28 minutes Abldeen-Goodridge was scythed down as he drove into the box, picking himself up and sending the goalkeeper the wrong way to level the scores from the penalty spot.

Villa were the dominant team as the half moved into injury time, but shortly after Goodridge produced a wonder save from Coniah Boyce-Clarke, Ehibhatiomhan stabbed home at the far post to give Reading a half-time lead.

The first 20 minutes of the second half passed without incident as both sides wrestled for control of the game, with Reading determined to end their run of three straight defeats.

Declan Frith’s attempts to spark the game into life saw his mazy dribble end with a fierce shot that thumped into the side-netting.

Goalscorer Goodridge was next to try his luck, playing a neat one-two with Chukwuemeka, advancing down on the goalkeeper and lifting a dinked effort narrowly wide.

With Reading retreating deeper and deeper into their own half, the pressure finally told with five minutes remaining.

Thorndike surged into the box and powered an effort past Boyce-Clarke at his near post to earn the away side a draw.