AND still, Christian Benteke cannot quite leave Aston Villa. He was there yesterday at this match. Not literally – his move to Liverpool is still too raw for him to attempt to attend in person – but he was there nonetheless; on the minds and occasional tongues of the home supporters, questioning and wondering, pondering and hypothesising, about where Aston Villa could have gone with him and where they are heading without him.
To still be talking about a man who plies his trade elsewhere now seems grossly unfair on a club of Villa’s pedigree and prestige and also to some Villa players, particularly Scott Sinclair, who scored two in a reminder of his Swansea City days.
Sinclair’s Capital One Cup hat-trick against Notts County in the week could have been comfortably followed up with another one here but Villa, when it mattered most, could not break down Dick Advocaat’s men.
This was a point Sunderland worked harder than ever for. It was a point Villa know should have been much more, so much more.
“We lost a lot of goals at this club from Christian Benteke,” Sherwood said. “No fault of the club. He’s obviously moved on and we need to find them from different areas and I think we created them from all areas of the field today.
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“We walk away today with less than we deserve.”
Sherwood did not walk anywhere. He hobbled, courtesy of lashing out at a water bottle towards the end when it all got too much for him, and for Villa’s anguished fans.
Advocaat knows all about feeling anguished after one point from the previous three games. Yesterday’s draw doubled their tally.
“We had to work very hard to get one point - and I’m pleased with the point,” he said. “We had no real problem in the beginning when we led 1-0 but then we gave an easy penalty away and that allowed Villa to control the first half. We had some problems with the movement of the Villa front players - they did well.”
Sunderland actually started in a manner every bit as bright as the home side and took the lead when Jordan Amavi dragged Danny Graham down outside the penalty box.
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Yann M’Vila did the rest. Villa’s defensive wall and goalkeeper Brad Guzan had plenty of time to see his curling free kick but it evaded both of them. Just three minutes after going 1-0 up, Lee Cattermole needlessly clambered all over Sinclair in the area and the winger got up and converted the penalty. The equaliser was all the encouragement Villa need to crawl all over the visitors but Sinclair, Ashley Westwood and Carlos Sanchez all missed fine opportunities.
As the interval approached, finally Villa made it count. Amavi’s cross was turned in by Sinclair, who got the briefest and best of touches.
They looked sharp, Villa Park was alive, victory now assured. Surely?
Maybe one day in the future. But not quite yet.
With the theme of Villa’s prolificacy well and truly set, they seemed determined to fulfil that narrative in the second half, especially following Sunderland’s equaliser which came courtesy of a Jeremain Lens effort that deflected of Micah Richards to slip past Guzan.
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The 52nd-minute goal was Sunderland’s last attack. After that Villa could not have tried harder and could not have sweated more. They threw the lot at the visitors. “Villa might think they deserved to win because they were pressing at the end but I think the draw was fair,” said John O’Shea, the Sunderland captain.
Star man: Scott Sinclair (Villa)
Aston Villla: Guzan 6, Hutton 6, Richards 6, Clark 6, Amavi 7, Sanchez 7, Westwood 6, Sinclair 8, Bacuna 7 (Gil, 68), Gana 6, Gestede 6
Sunderland: Pantilimon 7, Jones 6, Kaboul 6, O’Shea 6, van Aanholt 6, Cattermole 6 (Toivonen, h-t), M’Vila 7, Rodwell 6, Lens 6 (Larsson, 77), Defoe 7, Graham 5 (Fletcher, h-t)