Aston Villa could find no respite from their Premier League woes as they suffered the embarrassment of being held to a 1-1 draw at fourth-tier Wycombe Wanderers in the FA Cup third round on Saturday.
Aston Villa could find no respite from their Premier League woes as they suffered the embarrassment of being held to a 1-1 draw at fourth-tier Wycombe Wanderers in the FA Cup third round on Saturday.
Villa, seven points adrift at the foot of the league, became the second top-flight club to be grateful to avoid defeat by League Two opposition following Liverpool’s 2-2 draw at Exeter City on Friday.
The Cup’s enduring capacity for romance and shocks was in evidence again at Wycombe’s Adams Park home after former European champions Villa had taken the lead through a cool strike from their captain Micah Richards in the 22nd minute.
Yet Wycombe, who had 46-year-old goalkeeper Barry Richardson on their substitutes’ bench, earned an equaliser against a strong Villa side through Joe Jacobson’s penalty, which looked to have been harshly awarded, five minutes after halftime.
On Friday, Liverpool were forced to come from behind twice to draw 2-2 at fourth tier Exeter City in the FA Cup third round after an horrendous error by goalkeeper Adam Bogdan almost gifted the minnows a shock victory.
Tom Nichols opened the scoring for Exeter, seeking a place in the fourth round for the first time in 35 years, and after Jerome Sinclair’s equaliser, Reds boss Jurgen Klopp saw Bogdan’s blunder allow Lee Holmes’ corner to go straight into the net.
Australia international Brad Smith eventually ensured Exeter had to settle for the consolation of a lucrative replay at Anfield when he equalised for Liverpool in the closing stages. “It’s obvious what we have to learn in the future. We have to be more robust,” Klopp said.
“It was a difficult pitch. Exeter did really well. Maybe they know which part of the pitch you can play football.
“The first goal was unlucky for us, it was their first attack. I won’t say anything about the second goal. “It was really difficult for us. On one-on-one situations they were more robust than our guys.” It took just nine minutes for Exeter to delight the romantics keen for a memorable Cup upset.
