Hull peg back Aston Villa as John Terry gets life under way in the Championship
Aston Villa 1 Hull 1: Terry's side were unable to make a winning start to the new season
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Your support makes all the difference.Life after Chelsea began with a draw for John Terry as Aston Villa were pegged back by Hull and it finished 1-1 Villa Park.
All eyes were on Terry as he made his eagerly-awaited competitive debut.
His move to Villa, following 19 years with Chelsea, was the story of the summer in the Championship and talk of his first appearance dominated the build up to the match but it was Gabriel Agbonlahor who put himself in the spotlight early on.
His seventh-minute goal gave Villa the lead and the hosts looked comfortable in the first half. Hull eventually got going as half-time approached and they were much improved in the second half, deservedly equalising through 20-year-old Jarrod Bowen's first senior goal for the club.
Villa began brightly, creating a host of early chances.
Henri Lansbury ran between the Hull centre-halves and Neil Taylor's long ball from the left-back position picked him out perfectly. Lansbury controlled the pass on his chest but his shot from the left side of the penalty area went wide of the far post.
Lansbury turned provider shortly afterwards. The danger again came down the left as Agbonlahor was put through on goal but Allan McGregor did well to come out and smother the ball at Agbonlahor's feet.
The goal came from the opposite side. Ahmed Elmohamady had Alan Hutton on the overlap and his low cross made it all the way to the back post where Agbonlahor steered the ball into the net from six yards out.
Hull managed to settle and stem the flow of Villa attacks and a rare attack of their own almost saw Fraizer Campbell get on the end of a Sam Clucas cross midway through the first half but Sam Johnstone was alert to the danger. The Villa goalkeeper then had to field a Kamil Grosicki shot from the edge of the box.
It was not long until Hull were on the back foot again though and McGregor's block denied Scott Hogan the perfect finish to a mazy run inside the penalty area. Hogan was then unable to get a telling touch on Elmohamady's deflected cross and Michael Dawson cleared the ball from just in front of the goal line.
A very comfortable first half for Villa ended with a reminder of just how slim their lead was as Abel Hernandez flashed a shot wide from the edge of the area before Johnstone had to save in quick succession from Campbell and then Grosicki as Hull went into the break with some encouragement.
Leonid Slutsky's team carried that momentum into the second half with a sustained period of pressure and they deservedly equalised after 62 minutes when Grosicki took on Taylor and stood up a cross to the far post where Bowen scored with a low volley.
Andre Green should have put Villa back in front with 10 minutes remaining but got his header all wrong from two yards out and directed the ball back across goal.
PA
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