Derby County’s Under 18s fought back from a goal down late on in their latest Merit Group 2 encounter to secure a valuable point against Aston Villa.

On home turf, at the Training Centre in partnership with the University of Derby, Villa took the lead early on through Cain Thomas’ unfortunate own goal on 21 minutes.The story of the contest, however, came in the 87th minute when substitute and Under 15s midfielder Louie Sibley struck within his first three touches of the ball to snatch a battling point for his side.A total of three changes were made by Justin Walker and Rory Delap leading into the match- with Jordan Brown, Fuseine Rashid and Micah Edwards replacing Max Bird, Joe Bateman and Cameron Cresswell – the latter three of whom featured for the Under 23s on Friday night.On what was a glorious day of sunshine from beginning to end, Aston Villa began brightest and quick one-touch passing between Kelsey Mooney and Jordan Cox saw them break at pace with less than two minutes on the clock.As was the case for the entirety of the match, though, the resilience of both sides’ defence was what shaped much of this fixture.With 13 minutes played, Villa continued to make use of their early momentum and Mooney was presented an excellent opportunity to break the deadlock – though he was unable to get a clean strike on a threatening cross from the left - and sent his close-range chance over the bar.With 20 minutes gone, the tables looked to have changed as Derby bombarded Villa’s box on several occasions in order to stamp their authority on the game.Villa taught the Rams a harsh lesson, though, less than a minute later after a dangerous corner-kick was headed down by James Finnerty, and Thomas was unable to move out of the way quick enough and directed the ball into his own net.After that, it could have got a lot worse very quickly for Walker’s and Delap’s side after Villa captain, Jake Hayes, burst through on goal. However, Jordan Mills’ instinctive tackle prevented the visitors the opportunity to double their advantage.As the game began to open up once more, it was now Derby’s turn to attack.On 23 minutes, Mitchell-Lawson was presented arguably the best chance of the half on the edge of the area, but his touch let him down and the ball was sent well clear of the crossbar.The first-half’s last chance of note came on 35 minutes in Villa’s favour when Mooney found space for successive shots inside the Rams’ area. Derby ‘keeper Matt Yates stole the limelight off Mooney, though, and produced two emphatic saves from point blank range to keep his side very much in the contest.From the start, it had been end-to-end stuff and this continued well into the second half. Though as time progressed, Derby looked more dangerous with every attack they launched.Both sides had chances, but the forward lines of both sides were left with a massive sense of frustration as both of the teams’ defences refused to be breached without a fight.As full-time neared, the contest, undeservedly, looked set for a Villa victory – however on 87 minutes, there was a late twist.A late Derby substitute in Sibley was brought on to shake things up and with no more than three touches, the Under 15 midfielder started with the ball on the edge of the box and finished with the ball in the back of the net - courtesy of an intelligent, cheeky finish at Mani Idem’s far post.It seemed a fitting way to conclude the contest, but on 92 minutes, the Rams very nearly clinched all the points as a loose ball entered the box.Both Adam Davie and Jayden Bogle were unable to capitalise though – with the latter player sending the ball over the bar and subsequently, the referee calling time another action-packed Under 18 fixture.Yates (C), Bogle, Mills, Brown, Rashid, C.Thomas, Jibodu, Dixon, Davie, Edwards, Mitchell-LawsonStretton, Fryatt, Minkley, Haywood, SibleyIdem, Walker, Williams, Prosser, Finnerty, Revan, Hayes (C), Clarke, Mooney, Cox, KnibbsRowe, Boucher, Hall, Birch, PastorekTweets by @ dcfcofficial