Aston Villa Vs. Stoke City, 2012 Premier League: Final Score 1-1 In Scrappy Draw

Aston Villa and Stoke ground out a 1-1 draw in Birmingham, continuing Villa's poor home form. It wasn't a classic match by any means - a scrappy affair is what you'd expect between these two teams and a scrappy affair is exactly what we got - but Andreas Weimann added the touch of genius the game deserved in the 32nd minute, the 20-year-old playing a one-two with Stephen Ireland before curling a lovely shot over Asmir Begovic and in from 20 yards.

Villa could only hold their lead for forty minutes. Stoke's aerial bombardment finally paid off when centre back Robert Huth got forward and hammered a header past Shay Given from a corner, and from then on the visitors had most of the momentum. Villa certainly weren't helped by a few odd refereeing decisions, and any hope for a fast-paced ending for the match was ended when Chris Herd hurt himself in his second major collision in ten minutes and ended up having to be stretchered off. Five minutes of injury time later, and the draw was secured. Yawn.