Given a rare start at Villa Park on Saturday, the 27-year-old demonstrated the sort of stubborn resilience that the perpetual teenager must wish his acne did not share. Preferred instead of Thomas Hitzlsperger, Hendrie was at the heart of much of Villa’s better play and his 36th minute strike helped save the home team's blushes against a Crystal Palace side that controlled large swathes of the game, and could count themselves unlucky not to take all three points.
Iain Dowie’s men gave a statement of intent as early as the third minute when Joonas Kolkaa lofted a pass over Olof Mellberg to Wayne Routledge, who looked to have put his side ahead before the Villa captain made amends with a last-gasp clearance. Three minutes later though, Andrew Johnson, who received the customary welcome proffered to all former Birmingham City players when they return to these parts, put Palace in front. Mellberg was again culpable, choosing an inopportune moment to try out his new Worzel Gummidge impression, and the waspish Johnson showed his younger team-mate how it is done with an astute finish past Thomas Sørenson.
His fervent celebrations in front of the Holte End received a warning from Mark Clattenburg, which made his decision to book Villa’s own goalscorer for an identical altercation half-an-hour later slightly perplexing. Hendrie’s goal was more than slightly redolent of the quality that led to his first brief flirtation with international football a few years ago. Receiving the ball 30 yards out, an adroit nutmeg on Ben Watson was followed with a sublime curling shot into the top right-hand corner.
Given the sides’ respective league positions, a Villa win then looked the most likely of results but David O’Leary’s side never really gained a steady foothold in the game and in the end Palace could count themselves unlucky not to earn their first victory since their return to the Premiership. Just after the interval, the home side’s goalscorer and liveliest player, Hendrie, was substituted and with him went Villa’s best opportunity of gaining three points.
His replacement Thomas ‘The Hammer’ Hitzlsperger is yet to recreate the tenacious enthusiasm that marked his performances last season and any unfamiliar with his thunderous shot could be mistaken for assuming his moniker comes from 1980s rap star MC. ‘Can’t touch this’ was quite an apt description of his influence on the game, and as Palace posed an increasing threat towards the final whistle, only two smart saves from Sørenson prevented Michael Hughes and Watson from snatching the win.
The draw was not enough to lift the visitors off the foot at the table, but Dowie was certainly the happier of the two managers. O’Leary, meanwhile, must reflect on his side’s third draw against Premiership newcomers. Perhaps he should issue the players’ wives with their own sets of car keys and hope that spurns his side on, because he seems at a loss otherwise.