Aston Villa’s manager, Steve Bruce, has called for action to be taken against Brentford’s two-goal forward Neal Maupay after accusing him of stamping on one of his players in Wednesday night’s draw against Brentford.

Television footage appeared to show the Bees striker tread on John McGinn after he was felled by Lewis Macleod. The flashpoint came at 1-1 in the 41st minute and he scored again after 82, but Jonathan Kodjia spared Villa’s blushes with a headed equaliser with seconds of injury time remaining.

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“The disappointing thing for me was the boy stamped on John McGinn and he scored two,” Bruce said. “It’s disappointing when he scored twice but I am sure [the authorities] will look at it. The last thing I want to see is red cards but what you don’t want to see is the boy stamping on anyone. John has a few marks on him but he is OK.”

The Brentford manager Dean Smith, a boyhood Villa fan, had a different opinion. “Mile Jedinak fell over and then did a forearm smash on Maupay so, if you’re looking at retrospective punishment, there it is. I didn’t see it because I turned round to look at the fourth official to ask about the Jedinak one.”

With Anwar El Ghazi just arrived on a season-long loan from Lille and Yannick Bolasie in attendance and due to sign a season-long loan from Everton, plus Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham in talks, there is a real feelgood factor back at Villa Park and that was reflected in the high-energy first half in which the home side were rampant.

“We hope we can tie it up [with Everton] tomorrow,” said Bruce, whose side climbed to fifth in the table. “The one thing we haven’t got – with the injuries to Davis, O’Hare and Hogan – is anything up the top end of the pitch if we need to change things.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Neal Maupay (left) scored twice for Brentford but was lucky to stay on the field after a challenge on Villa’s John McGinn. Photograph: James Marsh/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock

Villa were superb in the first period and threatened through Jedinak, Jack Grealish and Glenn Whelan, but their charge was checked as Brentford took a shock lead in the 23rd minute with a well-worked goal. Sergi Canos pumped in a deep cross, Oliver Watkins headed the ball back into the danger area and it sat up perfectly for Maupay to thump an unstoppable volley into the top corner and silence Villa Park.

Villa deservedly drew level six minutes before the interval, when Kodjia cut inside from the left, easing past Macleod before knocking a low shot inside Dan Bentley’s near post.

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Maupay continued to be a problem and he almost put the Bees ahead again in the 49th minute. The striker managed to hold off James Chester as he bore down on goal but Orjan Nyland, the goalkeeper, bravely confronted him and whipped the ball off his toes.

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Villa began to run out of ideas against a resurgent Brentford and the visitors took the lead again in the 82nd minute. It was that man Maupay again, driving home from close range after Watkins’s jinking run and low shot after cutting inside that was tipped away by Nyland. But up popped Kodjia to meet Ahmed Elmohamady’s deep cross after it brushed the head of a Bees defender deep into the fifth minute of injury time.

Kodjia feels he is getting back to his best after putting his year-long injury problems behind him and now has three goals in the past two games. “This season has been very hard for me because of the injury and it’s been difficult to get fit,” he said. “But to score in the finish, I am very happy for the team.”

Smith, who has taken his Brentford side to fourth, added: “I would have taken a point at half-time; we weren’t very good in the first half but we looked the more likely as the game went on. We missed big chances at 2-1 to put the game to bed. The start has been very good, it could have been excellent.”