Aston Villa thwarted by resilient Ipswich on last pit-stop before Bayern Munich clash

On their last pit-stop before their Champions League reunion with Bayern Munich Aston Villa ran into a rhapsody in blue at windswept Portman Road.

Villa messiah Unai Emery regards it as two points dropped, but a draw was a fair outcome. Next stop, Bayern - and a 1982 European Cup final sequel 42 years in the making.

If the Bavarian giants have been blowing the froth off the Pilsener and slapping their Lederhosen too much at the Oktoberfest, they will come unstuck on Wednesday night.

Spaghetti Junction and queueing to get on a train at Witton station have their urban charms, but Villa’s return to Champions League orbit is a big deal in claret-and-blue heartlands.

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England striker Ollie Watkins, whose header put Villa 2-1 up in an entertaining affair, said: “Everybody is ready, there's a buzz around the club. Last year was special and this will be even better. You want to play in the best games in the world.”

True enough, but Villa will have to be more streetwise around both boxes when the Germans tiptoe up the Aston Expressway.

Too often the final pass went astray and both goals conceded were hugely avoidable.

Ipswich we can deal with in short measure. The Tractor Boys’ return to Premier League orbit is a cause only for celebration. This is the club of Ramsey and Robson, greatness enshrined in statues and cantilever stands behind each goal.

While the tremendous din at Portman Road is enough to make your dentures rattle, Kieran McKenna’s new-look side are still without a win - but they are now unbeaten in four games and they won’t be anyone’s pushovers.

From their first meaningful excursion into Villa territory they went ahead after eight minutes, seizing on Ezri Konsa’s sloppy clearance for Liam Delap to squeeze his second goal in as many home games between Emi Martinez and the near post from Jack Clarke’s low cross.

Arguably the Argentine World Cup winner could have done better than a mortgage dive - going down in instalments - but Villa only had to wait seven minutes for a reciprocal gift.

Jacob Greaves’ horrendous clearance across his own box was asking for trouble and Morgan Rogers, shifting the ball on to his right foot, devoured his first goal of the season expertly.

If Rogers’ ‘eagle’ celebration looked like Cole Palmer’s hands-across-chest ritual, that’s because the Villa playmaker patented the routine before Palmer when they were both at Manchester City.

Clarke should have done better with a free header from Leif Davis’s cross and Ipswich were made to pay when Watkins, soaring to meet Leon Bailey’s right-footed cross, headed his fourth goal in as many games after 32 minutes.

Martinez excelled to turn Kalvin Phillips ’ 25-yard rocket aside before he denied Delap, clean through one-on-one, with an outstretched leg.

And Villa appeared to be riding out the storm until Konsa gave away possession needlessly again - this time deep in the Tractor Boys’ half - and Ipswich broke upfield to devastating effect.

Delap, surging into the box, bamboozled Diego Carlos with a nifty step-over and his left-foot finish was too much for Martinez this time.

Back in the day, this was a title decider in 1981, when Ipswich beat Villa three times (once in the the FA Cup ) only for Robson’s exhausted side to lose four of their last five League games.

Neither will win the title this season, and Emery was annoyed at missing the chance to go level with early leaders Liverpool at the summit. But Villa have a party to throw on Wednesday night. It should be a thunderous occasion.

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