Pre-Season Friendly: Bochum 1 Aston Villa 1

Aston Villa were denied victory by a last-minute Bochum equaliser as the two sides played out a 1-1 friendly draw on Sunday.

New signing Nicklas Helenius broke the deadlock at the Ruhrstadion in the second half, but Yusuke Tasaka’s late intervention levelled the game.

The away side made 11 changes at the break, as manager Paul Lambert continued to run the rule over his charges ahead of the new Premier League season.

Both teams started the game in low-key fashion, with fitness rather than performance important for both teams. The only chance of note in the opening period came from Tasaka who fired over the bar when presented with a good opportunity.

Villa began to open up more after the break and were rewarded almost immediately when Helenius glanced home a header from Leandro Bacuna’s cross in the 47th minute.

Buoyed by their openeer, Villa twice almost doubled their advantage as first Bacuna went close before Marc Albrighton curled just wide of the post.

As the match headed into the final 15 minutes, Helenius had another effort that flew wide, before Bacuna saw a header cleared off the line.

But just as it looked like the visitors had the game sewn up, Tasaka curled an effort from the left-hand side into the far post with virtually the last touch of the game.

Lambert will have been happy with his side’s second-half performance, and their pre-season preparations continue with a trip to his former club Wycombe on July 20.