Heskey earns draw for Aston Villa

Nov 21, 2009 - 8:51 PM By WALTER SIMON STATS European Football Writer=

LONDON (SE) - Emile Heskey scored his first goal since April to earn Aston Villa a late 1-1 draw with Burnley at Turf Moor.

England World Cup candidate Heskey last scored against West Ham on April 18 but he did his cause no harm by snatching an 86th minute leveller just when it looked like Burnley's superb home record would continue.

Villa had Stylian Petrov back in the side in place of Nigel Reo-Coker but it was all Burnley in the first half and they might have led by more than the one goal at the interval.

That goal came in the ninth minute when Steven Caldwell beat Villa defender Richard Dunne to Robbie Blake's free kick to head in.

Burnley manager Owen Coyle tried to see the draw in perspective although he was disappointed his team had been unable to hang on at the end.

Coyle said: "This result is a measure of how far we have come in a short time.

"If you had asked me a couple of years ago when we were in the Championship if I would have been happy with a draw against Aston Villa, I would have said yes.

"I thought we were worth the three points. We had some terrific opportunities but their goalkeeper made some outstanding saves and they defended well to keep us out.

"Overall we paid a heavy price for not defending the second ball from a set piece but credit to Villa, they have some proud and gifted players and we knew they had the quality to come back at us.

"At this level every game is a test for us but it is one we are relishing."

Andre Bikey should have added another in the 31st minute but headed wide when unmarked at a corner ten yards out.

Brad Friedel made a series of important saves as Burnley went in search of more goals and paid the price for wasting their opportunities.

Friedel's long kick down field set up a rare scoring chance for Gabby Agbonlahor who could only drag his shot wide with only Brian Jensen to beat.

Jensen got away with one major misjudgement when he was stranded after coming and missing one corner but was punished for a similar crime with four minutes left.

This time the burly Danish goalkeeper punched away a corner when he might have caught it, allowing James Milner to cross for Heskey to steer home.

Villa manager Martin O'Neill said: "We came into the match with plenty of confidence even allowing for Burnley's great home record. We thought it would be open and that we could win.

"The wind and raid played a key part but Burnley adapted better than we did in the first half. Their goal was a poor one from our point of view but we fought back with great determination and I was pleased with our response."