Aston Villa spurn two-goal lead to draw

West Bromwich Albion battled back from two goals down to claim a draw from their home encounter against Aston Villa this evening.

Visiting Villa were the better of the two sides during the opening 45 minutes and made their domination count with two goals.

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Christian Benteke broke the deadlock with 11 minutes gone when he fired into the net from 25 yards out, before Gabriel Agbonlahor added a second in the 30th minute when he rounded Jonas Olsson before beating Ben Foster from close range.

The hosting Baggies provided a greater attacking threat after the restart and managed to halve the deficit with 49 minutes played.

Chelsea loanee Romelu Lukaku was the creator, teeing the ball up for Northern Ireland international Chris Brunt to score from 20 yards.

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That prompted an onslaught from West Brom, but the likes of Peter Odemwingie, Liam Ridgewell and Lukaku were all unsuccessful with attempts from inside the Villa area.

However, just when it looked as though Villa were going to hold out, Gareth McAuley headed down inside the box and Odemwingie was able to swivel and send the ball into the goal from six yards out.

The home team pushed forward in search of a winner in the closing stages, but they were unable to breach Brad Guzan's net for a third time.