I wasn’t in my usual seat. I had originally planned to be away, but those plans changed, and I had already offered my seat to someone else.

Luckily, another friend’s dad wasn’t going, so I took up his seat in the East Stand. So I watched the game from completely the opposite perspective than I usually do.

There were two changes from the team started at Crystal Palace last week.

Habib Diarra’s rumoured injury proved to be true and he was replaced by Chris Rigg; for his first start of the season. Simon Adingra made way for the fit again Enzo Le Fèe.

The back four of Reinildo Mandava, Omar Alderete, Nordi Mukiele and Trai Hume remained the same, so there was no way back for Dan Ballard. Noah Sadiki, Granit Xhaka and Chemsdine Talbi made up the rest of midfield and Wilson Isidor continued as a lone stroker through the middle. And Robin Reofs retained the goalkeeper jersey.

During the first half hour, you’d be forgiven for thinking we were back in League One, as all Villa had in their locker were spoiling tactics and trying to con the referee, who was taken in on more than one occasion.

An example of such was when Talbi skinned Villa captain, John McGinn, on half an hour, the Villa man fell to the floor as if he’d been shot by a sniper. The ref fell for this blatant piece of cheating and Talbi was penalised.

More diving and play-acting were to ensue for the next few minutes until Villa’s Matty Cash clattered into the back of Reinildo Mandava in the 34^th minute. It was a clumsy challenge which was penalised with a free kick to us.

However, the momentum of the challenge sent Reinildo onto his backside and his legs went flying into the air and caught the undercarriage of Cash.

The referee–and more importantly VAR–deemed it as deliberate foul play and a red card was shown.

I couldn’t see anything from the east side of the ground as it happened on the other side of the pitch. I have watched it several times since and feel a red card was a harsh decision. Though many disagree with me on that.

Wilson Isidor nearly scored with a header in the 36th minute, shortly after being sent off. Then Régis Le Bris modified the lineup, sacrificing Rigg for Ballard.

Ballard has the extra advantage of being a goal threat, as he demonstrated a minute after halftime. Aldrete then hit the crossbar with a close-range header on 51 minutes. You could not identify which team had ten men. We were playing with great enthusiasm and determination.

Villa maintained their awkward tactics when Ballard was thrown to the ground in the 54th minute, which the referee missed. According to the statistics, we had six corners to their five, but our 10 men performed admirably in meeting their full quota.

Trai Hume executed one of his trademark ‘tackles’ on the touchline in the 65th minute, completely eliminating Villa’s Morgan Rogers. However, he did receive the ball. A minute later, Matty Cash received the ball from the following corner, 25 yards from goal. He slammed it past Robin Roefs, who stayed rooted to the spot.

Whether he was blind, it’s the first big blunder we’ve seen from our new keeper, and I believe he’ll be displeased.

It only took nine minutes to restore parity, with Xhaka cushioning a header for Wison Isidor to sweep in from five yards for his third of the season.

Both teams were content to settle for a draw, as substitutes made brief appearances. Including one for Dan Neil. That’s good to see.