U21s: Aston Villa 3-3 Middlesbrough

Aston Villa Under-21s saw a three-goal lead slip through their grasp as they opened their Premier League 2 season against Middlesbrough at Bodymoor Heath.

The Villans played some scintillating football in the first 45 minutes, with Anwar El Ghazi bagging an assist for Tyreik Wright’s opener before netting a free-kick himself.

Brad Young got in on the act to make it 3-0 at the break as beleaguered Boro struggled to make an impact on the game.

However, everything changed within the space of 12 second half minutes as Sam Collins, Calum Kavangh and Bryant Bilongo saw the visitors fight back to take a point.

The Under-21s were bolstered by the presence of El Ghazi for the contest, with the forward starting alongside Wright and Brad Young in attack.

Following a low-key start, the latter almost combined to give the hosts the lead when Wright’s ball across the face of goal narrowly evaded Young.

A golden chance presented itself to Boro’s Kavanagh at the other end shortly after when Sil Swinkels passed the ball straight to him, but the striker could only pull his effort wide.

That miss proved costly as Villa hit the front on 17 minutes, with fine work from El Ghazi teeing up Wright for a tap-in at the far post.

The Dutchman was on the scoresheet himself as the game ticked towards the half hour mark, whipping a long-range free-kick into the net via a deflection off the wall.

Every Villa attack looked likely to end in a goal, and after Young spurned a one-on-one chance, the striker made no mistake with a second opportunity that he coolly buried past Henry Popple.

Similarly to the first half, the second period took a while to get going before Middlesbrough gave themselves a slither of hope through substitute Collins’ close-range goal.

The visitors’ dreams of a comeback took a step closer to becoming reality six minutes later when Kavanagh followed up his initial effort and dinked the rebound past Filip Marschall.

And Bodymoor Heath was stunned into silence when the away side completed the turnaround on 68 minutes, with Bilongo rising highest at the back post and planting a header into the opposite corner.

El Ghazi departed on 78 minutes after a productive night’s work for the winger as he works his way back to full fitness.

Having seen three points turn into one, Villa were almost left empty-handed had Jack Hannah’s late header not slid just wide of the post.