The 21-year-old midfielder’s 88th minute header earned Roberto Di Matteo’s side a 1-1 draw at Villa Park on Saturday night.
Aston Villa midfielder Aaron Tshibola could not hide his delight after scoring his first professional goal on Saturday night to earn Roberto Di Matteo men’s a 1-1 draw at home against Newcastle United.
Tshibola, who came on as a half-time substitute, was speaking to Sky Sports following the match after a late fightback from Villa saw him head home an 87th-minute equaliser from a Jordan Ayew corner.
Newcastle had completely dominated the first 45 minutes and took a deserved lead just before the half-hour mark when Villa captain Tommy Elphick turned DeAndre Yedlin’s low cross into his own net.
Di Matteo responded at the break by sending on Tshibola for Nathan Baker and switching formation from a 3-4-3 system to a more familiar 4-3-3 setup, but the changes initially failed to have the desired effect.
Once Rudy Gestede replaced Albert Adomah shortly after the hour, however, the hosts began to fight their way back into the match and soon saw a Mile Jedinak goal ruled out for offside before Ayew subsequently rattled the post with a curling shot.
The latter eventually helped deny Newcastle a victory when he delivered the assist for Tshibola’s equaliser two minutes from stoppage-time, sending in a corner that his 21-year-old teammate nodded into the back of the net to secure the claret and blues a share of the points.
Di Matteo’s side still sit 17th in the Championship with nine points after recording just one win in their opening nine matches, but the way they rallied during the closing stages clearly left the likes of Tshibola in buoyant mood at the final whistle.
“It feels good, but more importantly I’m delighted for the team,” the former Reading youngster told Sky Sports when asked about his goal. “We dug in and I think we got the point we deserved. I felt we came out and we gave our all.
“I was doing my warm-up so I didn’t hear too much [of Di Matteo’s half-time team talk], but I can imagine the gaffer gave the team some belief that we can get back into the game. For me, coming on at half time, I just gave it my all and tried to help the team get back into the game.”
Tshibola, who joined Villa from Reading in the summer for around £5 million, had missed the club’s previous six matches with a groin strain but certainly looked fully recovered on his return.
As well as scoring, the physical middle man gave the hosts some much needed dynamism in the centre of the park and looked calm and composed on the ball, completing 23 of his 27 passes – five of which were long balls.
Fans are now unsurprisingly calling for him to be brought back into the starting XI for Tuesday night’s trip to Barnsley, but the youngster insists he is happy to accept whatever role Di Matteo hands him.
“I’ll do whatever the gaffer wants me to do,” Tshibola added to Sky Sports. “For me now, I just have to prepare for the next match and we’ll go from there.”
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