The controversial penalty, Villa a 1-0 win against Birmingham

ASTON VILLA 1
- Milner (pen) 83

BIRMINGHAM CITY 0

**Aston Villa overcame Birmingham City at Villa Park with a 1-0 victory over their local rivals. James Milner converted a penalty in the dying stages to secure both the three points and the local bragging rights.

Birmingham had the first chance of the game, breaking through on goal in the ninth minute. Sebastian Larsson exchanged passes in the centre with Lee Bowyer after Cameron Jermone had laid the ball off to the Englishman and Larsson burst through and rounded Brad Friedel, but the angle was too acute and the Swedish midfielder sliced his shot, skewing well wide of the target.

Villa then worked a decent opportunity in the 17th minute. Attacking down the left, they played the ball into John Carew who shifted it inside to Milner who had taken up a position on the edge of the penalty area. The English international struck his shot with venom but it was blocked excellently by Roger Johnson.

The major talking point of the game came when Villa were awarded a penalty in the 82nd minute. Agbonlahor burst into the left-hand side of the area and Johnson dived in with a last-ditch tackle. He looked to get a slight nick on the ball before bringing the English striker down but referee Martin Atkinson didn’t hesitate and pointed straight to the spot.

Birmingham were furious, and surrounded the referee to protest with Stephen Carr collecting a yellow card for his dissent. However, it made no difference as Milner stepped to take the penalty and hammered it straight down the middle to give Villa the lead.

McLeish made his final change immediately, throwing on Kevin Phillips in place of Gardner but Villa held out to deny the Blues an opportunity to grab an equaliser. The result sees Villa leapfrog Manchester City into fifth place, level on points with Spurs in the race for fourth, having played a game extra.

Squads:

Aston Villa: Brad Friedel, Stephen Warnock, Richard Dunne, James Collins, Carlos Jimenez Cuellar, Stewart Downing, Stiliyan Petrov, 8-James Milner, Ashley Young's seven-, John Carew (Emile Heskey 70), Gabriel Agbonlahor

Birmingham: Joe Hart, Gregory Vignal (Stuart Parnaby 76), Liam Ridgewell, Roger Johnson, Stephen Carr, James McFadden, four-Lee Bowyer, Barry Ferguson, Craig Gardner (Kevin Phillips 85), Sebastian Larsson (Keith Fahey 76)

Impressive Tim Cahill's with two goal, Phil Jagielka made a fatal mistake.

ASTON VILLA 2
- Gabriel Agbonlahor (72)
- Phil Jagielka (og 90)

EVERTON 2
- Tim Cahill (23)
- Tim Cahill (74)

** Aston Villa's faint hopes of achieving Champions League football suffered a setback despite Everton defender Phil Jagielka's injury-time own goal rescuing them a point in a 2-2 draw.

Everton continued to put pressure on the hosts and were rewarded on 23 minutes. Cahill found space in the six-yard box to nod in Leighton Baines' cross after Diniyar Bilyaletdinov had gone close. Apparently it only happens goals in the first half-time.

Everton continued to dominate during the second half but against the run of play, Villa manager to grab an equaliser on 72 minutes. Milner whipped in a delightful cross from the right wing to Agbonlahor in the Everton area, who raced in front of his marker to flick a header past Howard into the far corner.

With 18 minutes remaining, Agbonlahor brought Villa level with his 50th goal for the club - and 15th of the campaign.

Milner sent over a cross from the touchline and Agbonlahor sent a glancing header wide of Howard into the corner of the net.

But two minutes later Cahill struck again to restore Everton's lead. There was a question mark over Villa's defending with Cahill presented with a free header in converting Bilyaletdinov's corner.

Villa looked to gain a late equaliser and found it through an unlikely source. Ashley Young curled in an inviting cross from the left and Jagielka crept in front of Carew, but in an attempt to clear the ball, headed the ball past Howard into the far corner of the goal.

Team Line-Ups :

Aston Villa: Friedel, Cuellar, Dunne, Collins, Warnock (Delfouneso 78); A. Young, Milner, Petrov, Downing, Carew, Agbonlahor

Everton: Howard, Neville, Distin, Jagielka, Baines, Pienaar, Cahill, Osman, Heitinga (Rodwell 50), Bilyaletdinov (Yobo 90), Yakubu (Saha 63)

Great Chelsea through Drogba, Malouda and Lampard

**Goals from Didier Drogba and Florent Malouda secured Chelsea's place in the FA Cup Final after the Blues beat Aston Villa 3-0 at Wembley.

Aston Villa went into the game hoping they wouldn’t face a repeat of the 7-1 battering they took at the hands of Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in March, with Chelsea wanting to extend their unbeaten streak to five games by seeing off Martin O’Neil’s side at Wembley to book their place in the FA Cup final.

Both Richard Dunne and James Milner recovered from Achilles injuries in time to feature in Martin O’Neil’s starting eleven, with Milner replacing Fabien Delph in Villa’s midfield.

Carlo Ancelotti made only one change to the side that has beaten both Villa and Manchester United in the past fortnight, bringing in Didier Drogba to replace Nicolas Anelka up front for the Blues.

Play in the opening minutes was hindered by the slippery surface at Wembley, with Aston Villa having the better of the play early on, pushing forward well and forcing Alex to concede a corner, which failed to find a Villa player after Downing had sent the ball in from the right-hand side.

But Chelsea soon managed to find their feet and created a couple of chances, with Alex failing to convert a header from a corner before Brad Friedel easily grabbed on to an effort from Joe Cole.

With fifteen minutes on the clock Stiliyan Petrov played a good ball to Milner who found himself in space just outside the box, striking well from distance and seeing his shot fly past Petr Cech’s outstretched arm but also past the post.

Seconds later Aston Villa may have felt they should have had a penalty, with Gaby Agbonlahor being impeded inside the box by John-Obi Mikel, but referee Howard Webb allowed play to continue, waving away Villa players shouts for a spot-kick.

With half an hour gone Chelsea began to take control of the game, though a lack of real pace and a number of misplaced passes meant that the Blues failed to find a way through the Villa defence, who dealt with Chelsea’s attacking moves comfortably.

With Carlo Ancelotti becoming increasing frustrated Chelsea stepped it up a gear, with Florent Malouda sending a dangerous ball into the box allowing Drogba to fire towards goal before Stephen Warnock slid in to make a crucial block, denying the Ivorian striker a semi-final opener.

As the half-time whistle blew Villa will have felt the better of the two sides, looking dominant in the opening minutes and creating the better of the chances throughout the half. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom for Chelsea, with Carlo Ancelotti’s side looking the more dangerous of the two in the closing minutes of the first 45.

Just after Howard Webb got the second-half got underway Villa had a great chance to get themselves in the lead, with Stewart Downing sending a corner into the middle of the box from the right-hand side, allowing Carew to get his head to it, but the Villa front man couldn’t hit the target, sending the ball narrowly wide of the left-hand post.

But it was Chelsea who’d take hold of the first ten minutes of the second-half. With the London side having 65% of the possession in the opening stages and coming close to getting a goal when Deco fired wide from just outside the area after a Chelsea corner was scrambled away from the Villa box.

With half an hour left to play Villa had another chance to put themselves in the lead when Agbonlahor took a quick throw in the final third which found Ashley Young, but the England-hopeful couldn’t convert his chance after breaking into the box, firing directly towards Cech who made an easy save.

Minutes later Chelsea made their first substitution of the tie, with Joe Cole coming off and being replaced by Salomon Kalou.

With 65 minutes gone Chelsea got themselves in front, when a poor clearance by Richard Dunne fell to John Terry outside of the box, who took a shot which looked to be going wide before Drogba intercepted and fired past Friedel and into the bottom corner to give his side a 1-0 lead.

Ten minutes later Chelsea made another substitution, this time Deco was the man to make way with former Bayern Munich midfielder Michael Ballack coming on to replace him.

Minutes later Carlo Ancelotti made his third and final substitution of the evening, taking off goal-scorer Drogba and replacing him with Anelka.

With just ten minutes to save the tie Martin O'Neil made his first change of the game, bringing off Carew and replacing him with England international Emile Heskey.

Villa will have felt they could have got much more from the game and had Howard Webb awarded them a penalty in the first-half things may have been completely different.

With 90 minutes almost up Chelsea extended their lead after Malouda fired a shot into the bottom corner from close range after substitute Ballack sent a brilliant cross into the box.

In extra time Frank Lampard further increased Chelsea's lead, firing in from deep inside the area after latching onto a well-placed ball by Anelka.

The win kept Chelsea's hopes of doing a domestic double alive, with the Blues progressing to the final to face either Spurs or Pompey.

Teams Line-Ups :

Aston Villa : Friedel, Cuellar, Collins, Dunne, Warnock, Petrov, Milner, Downing, Young, Carew (Heskey 82 '), Agbonlahor.

Chelsea: Cech, Ferreira, Terry, Alex, Zhirkov, Mikel, Joe Cole (Kalou 65 '), Lampard, Deco (Ballack 76'), Malouda, Drogba (Anelka 79 ').


Source : http://www.goal.com

John Carew continued his productivity goal in the Premier League

ASTON VILLA 2
- Carew 16,
- Carew 82

WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 2
- Craddock 23,
- Milner (og) 38

**Aston Villa must a hard-fought again to compete in the big four, after playing the series when faced with Wolverhampton Wanderers. John Carew double secured a point from defeat at Villa Park.

Villa got off to a flying start with John Carew converting Ashley Young's cross after just 16 minutes, but Wolves hit back and drew level seven minutes later through goalscoring centre-back Jody Craddock.

With less than ten minutes of the first-half remaining, the visitors went in front. Wolves attacked down the left flank, and Matt Jarvis managed to offload a dangerous ball across the Villa penalty area. From there it was a race between Jones and Milner which the England international won but he couldn't help poking the ball past Friedel into his own net.

But moments later, Villa were level. Heskey showed good strength to hold-up the ball after Carew’s knock-on, and the England striker slipped the ball through to the onrushing Steve Sidwell. The former Reading and Chelsea man poked the ball forward and Carew was on hand to tuck the ball under Hahnemann to bag his second of the match.

Team Line-ups:

Aston Villa: Friedel; Cuellar, Dunne (Albrighton 72), Collins, Warnock; A. Young, Petrov, Milner, Downing (Sidwell 77); Heskey, Carew

Wolverhampton: Hahnemann; Zubar, Berra, Craddock, Ward (Mancienne 64); Foley, Jones, Guedioura (Elokobi 46), Henry, Jarvis (Iwelumo 89), Doyle

Milner secures Villa victory with crucial goal : Wigan 1-2 Aston Villa

WIGAN ATHLETIC 1
- Caldwell 27

ASTON VILLA 2
- McCarthy (og) 25,
- Milner 63

**James Milner underlined his England World Cup credentials by netting the winner as Aston Villa enhanced their Champions League aspirations with a 2-1 victory at Wigan Athletic.

For Wigan the table makes much more depressing reading. The home team when James McCarthy put through his own net in and Chris Kirkland blundered for the second Villa goal.

Wigan who started brightly, but they only had to wait two minutes to find the leveller. N'Zogbia sent in a terrific in-swinging ball that evaded the Villa defenders and found Gary Caldwell eluded Richard Dunne at the back post, the Scottish defender not hesitating from five yards out to head his side level.

With the game continuing to be so open someone had to score again and that proved to be the case when Villa found the back of the net on 63rd minute.

The last of which was not cleared properly by Latics 'keeper Kirkland who pushed the ball away only for it to find Milner on the edge of the box. The midfielder then turned and drove a left-foot shot that went pat a crowd of bodies and into the back of the net. 2-1.

Team Line-ups:

Wigan: Kirkland, Boyce, Caldwell, Bramble, Figueroa, Thomas, McCarthy, Diame, N'Zogbia, Moreno, Rodallega. Subs: Stojkovic, Amaya, Scharner, Scotland, Moses, Gomez, Sinclair.

Aston Villa: Friedel, Cuellar, Dunne, Collins, Warnock, Downing, Milner, Petrov, Ashley Young, Agbonlahor, Carew. Subs: Guzan, Luke Young, Sidwell, Delfouneso, Delph, Heskey, Beye.

Terrific Carrew, send to Wembley and an FA Cup semi-final clash against Chelsea.

READING 2
- Long 27,
- Long 42

ASTON VILLA 4
- Young, A 47,
- Carew 51,
- Carew 57,
- Carew (pen) 90

**A thrilling FA Cup quarter-final at the Madejski Stadium between Reading and Aston Villa finished in favour of the Premier League side after a ruthless second-half comeback from the Villans saw them book their spot in the last four of the competition.

Reading were full of confidence and after a set of corners they breached the Premier League side's defence for the first time. From the first corner, Tabb volleyed at goal from Sigurdsson's delivery, but the ball hit Dunne and went out just wide for another. However, the second delivery was even better, Mills flicking on to Long who headed in from the back post to give his side the lead.

Sigurdsson intercepted a Villa passing move and initiated his side's break. The Icelander turned and produced a slide-rule through ball which sliced open the back-tracking Villa defence. Kebe ran on to the ball and cut it back across the six-yard box where Long again, finished off the move by passing the ball past a helpless Friedel.

The Villa manager must have said something inspirational at the break as his side came flying out of the traps and struck back instantly. Good delivery into the danger area was missing in the first half but Downing's pass into the box that lead to the goal had quality and Carew flicked it onto Cuellar who in turn prodded the ball onto Young, who hammered the ball into the net from the back-post.

Reading had no time to react when less than five minutes later, their lead was wiped out completely.

Downing breezed down the right, looked up and delivered a delicious left-foot curling cross that slapped off Carew's forehead and bulged into the net to make it two apiece.

Young drew his markers on the left before disguising a pass which got Warncok in behind and the left-back crossed into the centre of the box where Carew finished low and accurately into the right side of goal for his second of the game.

After a period in which they appeared completely shell-shocked, the Royals seemed to wake up with a quarter of the match to go and Sigurdsson nearly drew them level but for the head of Ashley Young who cleared his effort off the line.

Aston Villa had to hold on as the game wound to a close but all hopes of any Reading comeback were snuffed out completely when Milner was fouled in the box and a penalty was awarded, which Carew converted from the spot.

It was game over and brave Reading's FA Cup run was finally halted in a thrilling game.

Teams :

Reading: Federici; Ingimarsson, Griffin, Mills, Bertrand; Tabb, Howard (Gunnarsson 59), freedom, Sigurdsson; Long, Church (Rasiak 71)

Villa: Friedel; Collins, Dunne, Warnock, Cuellar; Petrov, Downing (Sidwell 90), Milner, Young; Heskey, Carew


Source : http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/85/england/2010/03/07/1822161/reading-2-4-aston-villa-john-carew-hat-trick-sends-villa-into-fa-

Agbonlahor scored, Carew settled the game with two successful penalties

ASTON VILLA: 3
- Agbonlahor 42,
- Carew (pen) 81,
- Carew (pen) 89

CRYSTAL PALACE: 1
- Ambrose (pen) 73

**Gabriel Agbonlahor and John Carew notched the goals to enable Aston Villa to reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup for the first time since 2000 following a 3-1 win replay win over Crystal Palace.

High-flying Villa set themselves up for an away tie at Reading on March 7, but they made hard work of beating the battling Championship side.

Agbonlahor notched his 14th goal of the season in the 42nd minute only for Darren Ambrose to cancel out this lead with a 72nd minute penalty.

But Carew settled the game with two successful penalties in the 81st and 89th minutes.

Showing four changes from the side which hammered Burnley 5-2 in their previous game, Villa dominated long spells without being able to overwhelm the struggling Championship side until the closing stages.

Although without their skipper Stiliyan Petrov, who scored the late equaliser at Selhurst Park to earn the replay, Villa dominated the opening exchanges with his deputy Fabian Delph setting up most of the attacks.

But it wasn't until the 16th minute that Villa broke through the Palace defence.

Agbonlahor rounded Matt Lawrence only to see Julian Speroni make an easy save from the striker's weak shot.

Speroni was under fire and did well to keep out a high cross from Ashley Young and also a powerful drive from Carew as Villa strived to take the lead.

Palace had a let-off in the 30th minute when James Milner opened up the defence with a delightful throughball.

Stephen Warnock raced through unchallenged. He only had Speroni to beat but chose to square the ball into the path only to over-hit his pass to the relief of Palace.

But the London side could not survive indefinitely and three minutes before the break Villa deservedly took the lead when Agbonlahor scored with a glancing back-header from Ashley Young's left wing disputed corner.

Surprisingly Villa were forced back onto the defensive at the start of the second period with Ambrose testing Brad Guzan with a raking drive.

Villa continued to make hard work of progressing with Agbonlahor again failing in a one-on-one situation against Speroni.

The goalkeeper continued to have an inspired night with another fine save from Ashley Young to keep alive Palace's hopes of an equaliser, which arrived in the 72nd minute.

Alan Lee was brought down by Warnock as he was charging through and referee Martin Atkinson had no hesitation in awarding a penalty which Ambrose rammed home past Guzan.

But seven minutes later, Villa settled the game with the second penalty of the game.

Carew was brought down by Lawrence and picked himself up to fire his spot kick past Speroni.

In the 88th minute, Carew was again brought down by Lawrence and once again Villa's lanky striker converted his spot-kick.

Line-up:

Aston Villa: Guzan, Luke Young, Cuellar, Dunne, Warnock, Ashley Young, Milner, Delph, Downing, Carew, Agbonlahor Subs: Friedel, Sidwell, Delfouneso, Davies, Heskey, Beye, Collins

Crystal Palace: Speroni, Clyne, Davis, Lawrence, Butterfield, Carle, Derry, Ertl, Danns, Lee, Ambrose Subs: Manns, Hill, Scannell, Andrew, Djilali, Comley, N'Diaye


Source : http://www.astonvilla-mad.co.uk by Footymad

Terrific Downing, Aston Villa destroyed Burnley

ASTON VILLA 5
- Young, A 32,
- Downing 56,
- Downing 58,
- Heskey 61,
- Agbonlahor 68

BURNLEY 2
- Fletcher, S 10,
- Paterson 90

**The visitors took the lead through Steven Fletcher inside the opening ten minutes after a well worked move but Ashley Young leveled for Aston Villa on the half hour mark with a low right footed drive.

A crazy fifteen minute spell in the second half saw Villa hit four goals through two Stewart Downing efforts, Emile Heskey and Gabriel Agbonlahor putting the result in doubt. Martin Paterson added a late consolation in stoppage time.

Burnley traveled to Villa Park with the worst away record in the Premier League looking to catch Aston Villa dreaming of next weekends Carling Cup final.

Just moments later Burnley took the lead when on loan Chelsea midfielder Jack Cork slid in David Nugent who raced into the box before squaring the ball to Steven Fletcher who tapped in at the back post unmarked, score 1-0 to Burnley

Villa leveled the scores 1-1 just after the half hour mark when Burnley failed to react quick enough to a short Ashley Young corner who played the ball to Milner before receiving the ball back and hitting a low drive through a crowded box leaving Jensen no chance.

Burnley started the second period in the same vein as the opening half but failed to carve out and clear chances in the first ten minutes as they had done previously.

Instead it was Villa who look the lead, a long ball forward was flicked onto Young who raced clear but was eventually crowded out by the recovering Burnley defense. The winger played the ball square into the open space and Stewart Downing raced on to the ball and struck his shot low into the left hand corner, 2-1 Villa leading.

Gabriel Agbonlahor should have doubled the lead moments later after breaking clear but Jensen saved well one on one with the Villa striker. However, the saved effort came out to Milner who played the ball to Downing, the former Middlesbrough man turned well and his strike took a deflection leaving Jensen helpless as it rolled into the net, 3-1 position.

Downing may have had a sensational five minute hat trick when Young played a corner straight out to the 25-year-old who volleyed first time but Jensen saved well.

Emile Heskey did compounded further misery on Burley minutes later after great work by Agbonlahor down the left hand side, the striker crossed the ball low into the area and Heskey finished from close range, hosts leading 4-1 score.

Gabriel Agbonlhaor got on the score sheet himself five minutes later after flowing move by Villa saw Milner cross for the 23-year-old to bundle home from close range, 5-1 away position.

Burnley continued to threaten from long distance but Friedel was rarely tested. Martin Paterson tapped in in stoppage time 5-2 score but Villa strolled home for a comfortable win.

Teams :

Aston Villa: Friedel, Cuellar, Dunne, Collins, Warnock, Ashley Young, Milner, Petrov, Downing, Agbonlahor, Heskey. Subs: Guzan, Luke Young, Sidwell, Carew, Delfouneso, Delph, Beye

Burnley: Jensen, Mears, Carlisle, Cort, Fox, Eagles, Cork, Bikey, McDonald, Nugent, Fletcher. Subs: Weaver, Duff, Paterson, Elliott, Blake, Nimani N'galou, Thompson


Source : www.goal.com

in a game that featured 10 goals

Aston Villa 6
- Warnock 30,
- Milner (pen) 40,
- N'Zonzi (og) 53,
- Agbonlahor 57,
- Heskey 62,
- Young, A 90

Blackburn Rovers 4
- Kalinic 10,
- Kalinic 26,
- Olsson 63,
- Emerton 84
Wembley dream is over after an incredible 10-goal Carling Cup semi-final shootout at Villa Park.Aston Villa triumphantly marched into their eighth League Cup final with a pulsating 6-4 win over ten-man Blackburn but only after finding themselves two goals in arrears in the first half.

They were fairly falling out of their seats when Heskey latched onto a cute pass from Milner, and rounded Paul Robinson. Even Olsson’s scissor volley a minute later, and Emerton’s goal five minutes from time didn’t dampen the spirit.

And when Young rounded things off in time added on, and the referee blew the whistle, they flooded the pitch.

This was Villa’s biggest game in a decade. There is an even bigger one waiting next month. Here’s hoping it is as exhilarating as this.

Teams :

Aston Villa:Guzan, Cuellar, Dunne, Collins, Warnock, Petrov, Milner, Downing, Ashley Young, Agbonlahor, Heskey.

Blackburn: Robinson, Chimbonda, Samba, Nelsen, Givet, Emerton, Nzonzi, Pedersen, Olsson, Dunn, Kalinic.