Villa 1 Wigan 1

A free kick from Ashley Young salvaged a point for Villa in another dismal afternoon for the home side that also saw Emile Heskey storm from the ground at half time.

Wigan, and their paltry band of followers, arrived knowing nothing less than a draw was needed if they are to escape relegation, and took the lead after just 10 minutes when their first real chance led to a neat finish from Charles N’Zogbia. Boos echoed around the ground as 36,000 frustrated Villa fans feared the worse.

But seven minutes later Ashley Yong did what he does best. The winger threw himself to the ground in a dramatic obviously diving manner before dusting himself down to put the ensuing free kick past Latics’ keeper Ali Al Habsi. In previous seasons Villa would have built on this and gone on to win comfortably against a poor Wigan team. But not this season. Chances were limited, and record signing Darren Bent shot straight at Al Habsi when he had a glorious chance to snatch a winner seven minutes before the end.

Villa were uncreative, and the game was not one for the neutral. The dullness was, however, broken for a 10-minture period of madness before half time. Heskey took a knock to the head and referee Mike Jones allowed play to continue. Outraged for reasons unclear to most, Heskey launched himself at Jones, barging the referee and throwing a torrent of abuse his way. The striker was lucky to escape with just a yellow card – if he was Wayne Rooney he would have probably found himself having an early bath. Heskey allegedly had to be restrained in the tunnel at half time and stormed from the ground after being told he was to be replaced for the final 45 minutes, with the latter being a sensible decision from Gary McAllister. Heskey had lost it and was running around like a headless chicken, and it looked inevitable that he would be sent off – if Villa had gone down to 10-men Wigan would probably have been looking at another away victory against the Villa. Instead they headed home with another point in their battle against relegation and a sixth season unbeaten at Villa Park.

Yes Heskey was given nothing by the ref, but his reaction was childish and unprofessional, and when he watches it back he will no doubt be embarrassed. It was yet another performance that shows how the likes of Petrov and Dunne should not be in the first team next year, and that putting up season tickets by just £10 was a wise decision as it is going to be hard enough to persuade fans to come to games next season if this is what they are going to be faced with every weekend. The only highlight was that the rain held off as I sit in the only part of the ground not under cover.  Two games left and then it’s finally all over.