Angel opened the scoring on ten minutes, connecting well with Aaron Hughes’ cross to power home a header. The Colombian looked to have earned a penalty eight minutes later after a good link-up play by Phillips but the referee waved his appeals away and five minutes before half time, the home side equalised through Marc-Antoine Fortuné.
Phillips found the back of the net three minutes after the restart but Villa were once again denied by the referee’s whistle and by the time Phillips stole a last-gasp victory when the former Southampton striker capitalised on a poor back-pass from Rossini, it was the Eredivisie side that were dominant. His goal was doubly bad for Giuseppe Rossini who had grazed the crossbar moments earlier, while the impressive Steven Davis made a number of important interceptions.
Villa nevertheless rounded off a mixed pre-season, where a lack of fluency has been somewhat offset by the form of the four strikers still on their books. Davis has looked impressive in midfield but the defence has yet to form a cohesive unit. David O’Leary has less than a week to mould them into one or, at least, teach them how to repel Bolton’s hoofs into the box.
Pre-season Results:
18July: 2-0 Wycombe Wanderers
21July: 14-0 Gällstad FK
23July: 1-1 Jönköping Södra IF (3rd div.)
26 July: 3-3 GAIS (2nd div.)
31 July: 1-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers
1 August: 2-2 Tamworth
2 August: 3-0 Walsall
3 August: 8-1 Hinckley