Aston Villa Reserves 1 Blackburn Rovers Reserves 1

JON Topley, who is being released by Rovers in the summer, signed off on the perfect note by claiming Blackburn's equaliser at Villa Park last night.

Topley showed a great touch to take the ball down and fire home left-footed 10 minutes from time to earn a young Rovers outfit a deserved share of the spoils in their final reserve game of the season. Ironically the visitors had fallen behind following their best spell of the match just after half-time.

Some fine play on the left by Paul Forsyth opened up a number of opportunities but none were taken and Villa replied by taking the lead with a clinical move.

However, Blackburn responded well to battle back for the equaliser which kept them above Villa in a likely top-half finish in the Pontins League Premier Division.

It was a nice way for Topley to bow out and defender Chris Whittle also turned in an excellent performance in his last game at this level before leaving the club. And coach Terry Darracott was delighted with his young charges.

He said: "It was a great effort. I just asked them for one last push to make sure it wouldn't be an end-of-season affair. It should be a great occasion for young players to come and play at Villa Park. I didn't want them to waste it and they certainly didn't."

Rovers: Flowers, Richardson, D Dunning, Scates, Whittle, Brown, Fitzpatrick (M Richards 75), Hawe, Hamilton, Topley, Forsyth.

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