By Ryan Ghee
July 27 2005

Aston Villa continued their pre-season tour of Sweden with a one-all draw against Jonkopings Sodra. Despite taking the lead with just 20 minutes remaining, Aston Villa couldn't hold on for a win and failed to overcome the resiliant Swedish outfit. It was the home side who started the match brighter as after only 2 minutes, Kahmie came very close to opening the scoring for Jonkopings. Despite this sluggish start, Villa did manage to grasp control of the match and within 15 minutes, Moore, Hendrie and Ridgewell all saw their efforts well saved by the Jonkopings keeper.
After 30 minutes, Luke Moore managed to take the ball around Vazgec, the Jonkopings keeper, but he was well tackled by Pappas who cleared the danger with a desperate last-ditch tackle. Villa had another flurry of chances before the break but they couldn't break the deadlock.
David O'Leary made six half-time changes but Villa still struggled to find the back of the net. Patrik Berger saw his effort fly over the bar 5 minutes into the second half and minutes later, Karlsson blocked Angel's long-range effort.
The deadlock was finally broken by Nolberto Solano in the 70th minute. The Peruvian raced on to Angel's clever flick before firing the ball into the corner of the net from 18 yards.
Five minutes later however, Jonkopings found a reply. After a good move down the right-hand side, Dahlstrom found himself one-on-one and calmly swept the ball past Stuart Taylor in the Villa goal.
Villa very nearly found a late winner but McCann fired over with only 5 minutes left and Kevin Phillips saw his shot pushed around the post in stoppage time.

After the match, David O'Leary praised his side's level of performance but conceded that Villa aren't strong enough in front of goal. He said that "we need more quality in the final third" and that "we should have scored more goals."