Villa ransacked by neighbours

A Stern John goal in the fourth minute of added time earned Birmingham City FC a draw from their Premiership encounter against neighbours Aston Villa FC on Sunday.

Hitzlsperger hammer
With both sides still in the hunt for a place in the UEFA Cup, there was far more at stake than local pride and Villa looked well on the way to securing all three points when Thomas Hitzlsperger added to Darius Vassell's first-half opener a minute after the restart. The German midfield player unleashed a venomous strike from just outside the Birmingham penalty area to give goalkeeper Maik Taylor no chance of preventing the home side going 2-0 up.

John heroics
Inspired by the introduction of David Dunn from the substitutes' bench, the visitors fought back. Mikael Forssell halved the deficit on the hour, tucking the ball away after a lay-off by Clinton Morrison, and there was more drama to follow. Four minutes of stoppage time were signalled and Villa, who had spurned a string of goalscoring opportunities in an end-to-end encounter, were becoming increasingly panicked. With seconds left to play, Darren Purse hoisted a high ball into the area to set up a shooting chance, and although Thomas Sorensen parried the effort, John was on hand to grab a share of the spoils.

Goal feast
There was no shortage of drama in the day's other Premiership game at White Hart Lane, where Tottenham Hotspur FC let a 3-1 lead slip before salvaging a 4-4 draw themselves in the dying minutes against Leicester City FC. The goals came thick and fast, with recent Tottenham signings Michael Brown and Jermain Defoe scoring either side of Gary Docherty's own goal inside the first 13 minutes. Once Robbie Keane made it 3-1 on 28 minutes, Tottenham seemed to be heading for victory, but regular visitors to White Hart Lane know better. Tottenham's last four games have produced an astonishing 28 goals, including a 4-3 FA Cup defeat against ten-man Manchester City FC having been three goals to the good at half-time.

Saviour Defoe
Ex-Tottenham striker Les Ferdinand closed the gap six minutes into the second half but a Leicester fightback looked unlikely when Jamie Scowcroft was shown a straight red card on 69 minutes for a late challenge on Mauricio Taricco. But three minutes later the scores were level when another former Tottenham man, Ben Thatcher, headed Leicester level. Marcus Bent thought he had secured a memorable victory for the visitors when he latched on to Docherty's weak backpass and made it 4-3 on 77 minutes, but there was still time for Defoe to thunder in a close-range leveller and prevent Leicester climbing out of the relegation zone.