West Bromwich Albion and Aston Villa shared the points in a 1-1 draw at Villa Park on Sunday.

It was the away side that started the better and Shane Long just fired his header wide of the target in the game's first real opportunity.

Villa had a half-chance to open their account when Ron Vlaar rose highest in the area from a corner, but he just failed to make a proper connection.

The home side continued to create openings as the half developed, with Gabriel Agbonlahor and Christian Benteke a threat in the penalty area.

Benteke had an effort of his own just before the 30-minute mark in the match, but chances remained few and far between in the latter stages of the half.

It was Villa who came closest to breaking the score in the first half with late efforts from Brett Holman and Ciaran Clark, but to no avail.

West Brom started the second period with more purpose and they had the ball in the net after 50 minutes, but Long was rightly ruled offside.

Long did open the scoring moments later, however, when he was on hand to turn a James Morrison cross home at the far post.

Villa came close to levelling the scores within a minute as Benteke advanced onto the opposition box, but the away side just managed to clear the danger.

The Villans continued to pass and probe as the match approached the last 20 minutes, but West Brom resisted the constant pressure and stemmed the tide with a series of changes.

Villa eventually levelled ten minutes from time when Darren Bent popped up in the area to convert from close range. Both sides had chances to win it late on, but it remained level with both sides sharing the spoils.