David O’Leary’s side looked to be cruising to victory when Ridgewell made it 2-0 early in the second-half, adding to Juan Pablo Angel’s 18th-minute opener. The centre-back scored his second, and Villa’s third on 83 minutes, rising to head in Ulises de la Cruz’s pin-point cross, but by then the Gothenburg outfit had overturned the scores with three goals in six minutes, and the goal was only enough to salvage a draw.
In truth, Villa should never have found themselves in that position against the Swedish second-division side after a strong start. Patrik Berger, Angel and Ridgewell were all denied by a combination of last-ditch defending and goalkeeping by the time Kevin Phillips won a penalty on 14 minutes. Gareth Barry stepped up but saw his effort saved by Dime Jankulovski.
Angel was relieved of the spot-kick taking duties last season after a succession of misses and perhaps in an attempt to demonstrate that he has regained his poise, he opened the scoring in some style four minutes later. The Colombian striker collected Aaron Hughes’ cross, ghosted past two defenders before unleashing an unstoppable drive. Only a brilliant save from Jankulovski denied him a second on the half-hour mark and the keeper was again on hand to save from Nolberto Solano before the interval.
GAIS emerged for the second half a different team, 11 substitutions apparently catching Villa unawares. Nevertheless, the visitors doubled their lead on 56 minutes when Vennberg directed Ridgewell’s header past the stranded goalkeeper after Solano’s cross had caused problems for the GAIS defence. The Peruvian veteran was at fault just after the hour though, conceding a penalty after fouling Wilton Figueiredo and Hans Blomqvist duly converted.
Blomqvist levelled the scores five minutes later and when Figueiredo made it 3-2 60 seconds later after dispossessing Olof Mellberg, the Swedes looked on course for a stunning comeback. There was still for Ridgewell, who scored just one goal last term, to salvage some pride as Villa remain unbeaten in pre-season. Just.
Pre-season Results:
18 July: 2-0 Wycombe Wanderers
21 July: 14-0 Gällstad FK
23 July: 1-1 Jönköping Södra IF (3rd div.)
26 July: 3-3 GAIS (2nd div.)