*Aston Villa lost ground in the race for fourth place and a Champions League spot as they were held by Stoke.* In a scrappy game chances were rare as both sides cancelled each other out. Villa’s Stiliyan Petrov forced Thomas Sorensen to tip his drive wide, while Stewart Downing’s shot hit the side netting and James Collins headed wide. For Stoke, Ricardo Fuller had a shot deflected over, Danny Higginbotham’s effort was blocked by Stephen Warnock and Robert Huth headed over. It was always likely to be a close contest, with the sides suffering only one league defeat between them in 2010 - Stoke’s 3-1 loss to Arsenal. The psychological edge may have been with Villa after their tremendous fightback from 2-0 down to knock Reading out of the FA Cup - and boss Martin O’Neill stuck with the same side. Stoke, who lost to Chelsea in the FA Cup and drew with Burnley in their last two matches, brought in Higginbotham and Glenn Whelan for Andy Wilkinson and Liam Lawrence. And it was Whelan who fired the first warning shot of the afternoon, when he crashed an effort high and wide early on. Typically, it came after a long throw by Rory Delap had not been cleared by Villa - and it was not to be the first. However, Villa did try to give Stoke a taste of their own medicine by employing Carlos Cuellar to launch throw-ins into the box. That the Spaniard’s efforts lacked the flat trajectory and pace of Delap’s made it easier for Stoke to defend against them, and also brought derisory chants from the crowd. Villa had better service from a corner but Collins could only glance his header wide. Petrov did force a save from Sorensen when his long-range shot had the keeper diving to his left. Villa came even closer after the break when Downing’s shot from the edge of the area deflected off John Carew and wrong-footed Sorensen but went into the side netting. As the game finally threatened to open up, substitute Fuller scuffed his shot into the arms of Brad Friedel after a good run and Richard Dunne almost found Emile Heskey with a lay-off in the box. Huth was next to test Friedel with a stinging shot straight at him, while Fuller made the American stretch to punch away a low cross. Fuller, who looked busy from the moment he came on, broke down the left and his teasing cross was cleared by a diving Friedel as Stoke players lurked. Stoke, now in the ascendancy, created two reasonable chances, both falling to Higginbotham at the far post. Higginbotham saw his first effort brilliantly blocked by Warnock, then later he fired wildly over from a similar position. Villa threatened again when James Milner’s free-kick curled just wide, while Stoke’s Huth will feel he should have got a six-yard header on target. The visitors almost had the decisive say when Ashley Young’s cross was deflected just over, but a draw seemed the fairest result from a match of graft rather than guile. *Aston Villa boss Martin O’Neill:* “We would love to have won the game but it was never going to be easy. Stoke are always difficult. “There weren’t many chances in the game and the wind didn’t help matters. I was hoping we would get the ball down, but that is easier said than done. “It was a reasonable outcome. Probably a draw was a fair result.” --- *The Guardian* Saturday, 13 March 2010 *Aston Villa drop priceless points in error-packed draw at Stoke* March is about as popular with Martin O’Neill as it was with Julius Caesar. In 12 attempts, he has never won a Premier League match as Villa’s manager in the month in question, and he was left ruing a barren scrap at the Britannia Stadium, which saw his team fall further behind in their pursuit of Champions League football next season. Victory over Blackburn earlier in the day enabled Tottenham to consolidate fourth place in the table, six points ahead of Villa, who have two games in hand. Unfortunately for O’Neill and company, turning that notional advantage into profit is beginning to look increasingly problematic after five draws – four of them goalless – in their past eight. O’Neill said: “We haven’t lost a league game since four days after Christmas [1-0 to Liverpool], but we have to try to turn a couple of these draws into wins.” The trip to Wigan on Tuesday night provides an inviting chance. Goalless draws can be entertaining, but this was not one of those. The ball was often in the air, which with Stoke involved is about as revelatory as saying night follows day, and in a strong, swirling wind, control and precision were horribly elusive. Tony Pulis at least had the excuse that his players were suffering from battle fatigue in this, their sixth match in 17 days. Understandably, they have faltered after an excellent start to 2010, which saw them unbeaten in 11, and are now without a win in their past four. Rory Delap tossed more bombs than ever [19] into the opposition penalty area, but nobody was able to translate them into anything worthwhile. It is a recurring problem. Stoke have scored a miserly 28 goals in 29 league games – fewer than lowly Burnley. Nobody has contributed more in the league than Tuncay’s four. Because of their rudimentary tactics, the pride of the Potteries have been compared to Wimbledon’s “Crazy Gang”, but they have no John Fashanu - not even an Alan Cork. Villa hardly have an abundance of prolific finishers either, and it was something of a surprise that O’Neill benched his leading scorer, Gabriel Agbonlahor, and paired his two big men, John Carew and Emile Heskey, in attack. Between them, Heskey and Carew boast seven league goals in 44 appearances, Agbonlahor has 11 in 27. The absence of decent goal attempts left some of us counting Delap’s raisons d’etre, and he threw 19 long and one short. O’Neill says these long throws are “all part of the game”, and that he would use the tactic if he had anybody who could hurl the ball far enough. When Carlos Cuéllar tried, after seven minutes, and fell short, his attempt was ridiculed by the crowd with a chorus of [expletive deleted] “What the hell was that?” There was not much else to shout about. Villa played what little football there was, Stoke did the scrapping, and noteworthy chances were few and far between. For Villa, Stiliyan Petrov tested Thomas Sorensen from distance, Stewart Downing had a goalbound shot deflected into the side-netting by Carew and James Milner was only a foot away with a 20-yard free-kick. For Stoke, Ricardo Fuller would have scored but for James Collins’s last-ditch intervention. “It was a tough afternoon, but we defended very stoutly,” said O’Neill. “The game didn’t have many clear-cut chances, so I suppose the draw was probably a fair result. It is tough to keep concentrating all the time, knowing they [the long throws] are coming in. One knows what to expect here, but knowing and coping with it are two different things.”