LIAM DELAP showed why he is one of the hottest young talents in the country when he struck his 10th goal of the season to earn 10-man Ipswich a valuable point.
But it was one of the hottest talents from yesteryear who saved Villa from a shock defeat as Marcus Rashford started to pay off his hefty wage bill.
The on-loan Manchester United forward came on at half-time and showed enough to convince Villa fans they are on to a winner.
His fiercely struck free kick crashed off the bar and Ollie Watkins tucked away the rebound to earn Villa a point.
But it was his workrate and pace which impressed as he showed he is not the lazy dud he was written off as by Ruben Amorin, who couldn’t wait to get him out of Old Trafford.
The first half was messier than a two-year-old with a brush and a set of paints, with precious little quality on show.
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In fairness the game was disrupted after quarter of an hour when both sides lost a player to injury.
Julio Enciso had made the mistake of going into a crunching tackle with Villa’s pocket rocket John McGinn after 13 minutes.
Although the Ipswich winger came out with the ball and managed to send in a 25-yard shot which Emi Martinez gathered with ease, he didn’t come out unscathed.
Two minutes later he hit the turf and, after treatment, he hobbled off with his left sock at his ankles, clearly distressed.
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Enciso may have got a sympathetic round of applause but he was in floods of tears as he trudged towards the tunnel.
Meanwhile, unnoticed to most of the crowd, Boubacar Kamara had headed to the home dugout to report that he too was injured.
He was replaced by Tyrone Mings and a match which had started slowly became even more disjointed.
There were only two minutes on the clock when Morgan Rogers raced clear on goal and went down as Town goalie Alex Palmer raced out of his box.
However VAR confirmed there was no contact from the keeper, although Rogers could have been awarded a foul as chasing defender Jacob Greaves shoved him off balance.
Kalvin Phillips fired a free kick straight at Emi Martinez and Lucas Digne blazed over from distance.
But it was scrappy stuff and Axel Tuanzebe went into the book for taking a tug at Rogers who toppled to the turf.
That was to have major implications for this match as 12 minutes later Tuanzebe completed a nightmare return to his former Villa Park stomping ground.
The former Manchester United defender spent three loan periods at Villa.
But it didn’t gain him any sympathy from the home fans when he was given his marching orders five minutes before half-time.
Jacob Ramsey set off on a thrusting run and Tuanzebe laid his right hand on his shoulder to try to prevent his progress.
The Villa kid was shrewd enough to tumble which gave ref Robert Jones a decision to make.
He decided another yellow card was merited, followed by the inevitable red.
Ten-man Ipswich now had their backs to the wall.
They had been fortunate to survive earlier in the half when Axel Disasi, on his debut, launched a long pass out of defence.
It cleared the Ipswich defence and Watkins held off Dara O’Shea but screwed his shot wide of the far post.
Then, one minute before half-time Watkins cut the ball back to Rogers who seemed certain to score.
But he was when Alex Palmer somehow got his fingers to flip the ball over from point blank range.
Emery had seen enough and sent for reinforcements to stretch Ipswich, who were bound to sit deep after the break.
Marcus Rashford and Ian Maatsen replaced Ramsey and Digne and Villa fans sat back and waited for the goals to arrive.
Rashford was first to show with a shot which Palmer palmed away before Maatsen fired a long-ranger wide.
Greaves was booked for hauling down Andres Garcia on the touchline.
However Villa Park was silenced when, against all odds, Ipswich swept into the lead just before the hour.
Omar Hutchinson got round the back of Maatsen and fired in a low cross.
Then Liam Delap showed why he is going to be targeted by all the big boys this summer.
The 22-year-old smelled a goal and when Mings failed to cut out Hutchinson’s centre the striker pounced to beat Disasi and McGinn to the ball.
And he beat Emi Martinez with a deft flick of his boot to steer the ball into the far corner.
It was the youngster’s 10th goal of the season and it proved enough to earn his side a point.
Villa were rocked but came back to lay siege to the Tractor Boys goal.
Maatsen had a shot pushed over by Palmer and Rashford was roared on by his new supporters when he sprinted back 25 yards to put in a sliding tackle to prevent an Ipswich break.
Emery sent on another big name as he unleashed Marco Asensio on Ipswich’s dogged defence.
The three-times Champions League winner was brilliant but showed signs of ring-rust as he passed up a hat-trick of chances.
But it was Rashford who had a major say in Villa grabbing a point.
His free kick after 69 minutes was hit with a wicked whip and dip and crashed off Palmer’s crossbar.
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Ollie Watkins was on the rebound in a flash to slam it home.
But despite laying siege to Town’s goal, Palmer kept out everything Villa threw at him.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
