Aston Villa boss frustrated after Newcastle draw

Aston Villa boss Dean Smith is facing frustration after their 1-1 draw at Newcastle.

Jamaal Lascelles scored in stoppage time to rescue a point for relegation-threatened Newcastle following a dramatic finale against Aston Villa at St James’ Park.

A largely dull encounter had looked destined to end goalless before Ollie Watkins’ header deflected off Ciaran Clark and went in off the underside of the bar to put Villa ahead with just minutes remaining.

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But Newcastle snatched a point when Lascelles headed in Jacob Murphy’s cross in the last action of the game.

Smith said: “When you’re a goal up with four minutes to go you’re disappointed naturally.

“We didn’t deserve to win the game. It wasn’t a game for the purists, I thought it was a bit of an ugly game. They probably had the best chances but we should see it out.

“We could have gone and got a goal to make it 2-0 with the counter-attacking opportunities we had but we didn’t make the most of the opportunities and it allows them to stick a ball into the box.

“It’s always a concern when you’re not creating chances. Tonight it was a very scrappy game. We’ve got good enough players to go and score goals, we have a few short of confidence but that seems to be the league at the moment.”

On losing Bertrand Traore early on, he added: “He has a whack on the hip and the ribs, it was a blow to lose his creativity. I thought we started well and it probably shook us when he went off.

“We had an opportunity to go above the champions and that should have been enough for the players to go and get a result today.”