Aston Villa ended their four-match losing streak courtesy of a 1-1 draw against Swansea City at Villa Park this afternoon.
The hosts took the lead after just seven minutes when Gabriel Agbonlahor raced clear before slotting the ball past Gerhard Tremmel in the Swansea goal.
The visitors took the game to Villa from that moment on, and finally got a deserved equaliser 10 minutes before half time when Roland Lamah nodded in Pablo Hernandez's cross at the back post.
Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at the final match of 2013 for both sides.
Match statistics:
Aston Villa:
Shots 7
On target 3
Possession 27%
Corners 2
Fouls 13
Swansea:
Shots 17
On target 3
Possession 73%
Corners 8
Fouls 9
Was the result fair?
No. Swansea had enough of the ball to deserve the win today, but they couldn't use it effectively enough. From the moment Villa took the lead, Swansea were in control of the game and put the hosts under consistent and relentless pressure. They thoroughly deserved their equaliser when it came and should have gone on to win the match. The Villa defence does deserve a bit of credit for standing firm under such a barrage of attacks, but Swansea only have themselves to blame for not winning this match as they certainly had enough possession to do so.
Aston Villa's performance
They were greeted by boos as they trudged off the field having extended their winless streak to five matches, but in truth it could have been a lot worse for Villa. They started the match well enough but couldn't kick on having taken the lead, instead allowing Swansea to dominate proceedings. They didn't keep the ball well enough and failed to unduly worry Tremmel for pretty much the remaining 83 minutes of the match. The one positive to take from the draw is how well the defence stood up to such heavy pressure, but Paul Lambert won't want to test them in that way very often.
Swansea's performance
Michael Laudrup will be delighted with how his side played, but unhappy at how few genuine chances they created. It is all well and good having 73% of the possession, but turning that into just three shots on target is simply not good enough. They should have made more of their dominance, particularly in the first half, as this match was there to be won by the visitors. Ben Davies missed a glorious chance in the first half while Jonathan de Guzman also came close just before their equaliser, but other than that they didn't really test Brad Guzan. They will be more disappointed with the draw than Villa.
Sports Mole's man of the match
Pablo Hernandez: Swansea spent so long on top in this match, and it was down the left flank that they looked most dangerous. Ben Davies put in a good performance, but his miss means that the man of the match award goes to Hernandez. The midfielder was a real handful on the flank and had a huge part to play in the equalising goal, standing up a fine cross at the back post that Lamah simply had to nod in.
Biggest gaffe
This one goes to Davies for his miss in the first half. With the score at 1-0 to Villa, Davies had a golden opportunity to level things up when he was left unmarked from a corner. He was no more than seven yards from goal and it looked to be a simple finish, but he headed the ball into the ground and it bounced up and over the crossbar.
Referee performance
Roger East's afternoon went relatively smoothly today. The ref didn't have any major decisions to make and only produced the yellow card when it was necessary. There was one decision to book Angel Rangel for a handball in the second half which he could have let go, but by the letter of the law he made the correct call.
What next?
Aston Villa: Aston Villa's 2014 gets underway with a massive match against struggling Sunderland on Wednesday.
Swansea: Swansea, meanwhile, kick off the new year with a tough match at home to Manchester City.
Barney Corkhill
