Aston Villa booked their place in the Carling Cup final, after an astonishing 6-4 win in their semi-final second-leg against Blackburn.
Martin O'Neill's men come from 2-0 down to seal win
Aston Villa booked their place in the Carling Cup final after an astonishing semi-final second-leg at Villa Park saw them claim a 6-4 win against Blackburn Rovers, which gave them victory 7-4 on aggregate.
A truly pulsating cup-tie saw Blackburn turn the whole contest on its head after just half-an-hour.
Villa took a 1-0 lead into the match following victory at Ewood Park last week, but within ten minutes Nikola Kalinic had headed in. The Croatian then put Rovers ahead overall as he fired home after Brad Guzan parried into his path.
But Villa were soon back in the game as Stephen Warnock registered from six-yards - before the home side, very much against the run of play, found an equaliser just before the break.
It came from the penalty-spot as Chris Samba brought down Gabriel Agbonlahor, for which he was red-carded, and James Milner stepped up to convert an impeccable spot-kick.
Just after the interval Villa's comeback was complete as they went ahead as Steven Nzonzi deflected home from inside the six-yard box after Richard Dunne poked the ball towards goal.
Agbonlahor and Emile Heskey then scored to make it 5-2 on the night and virtually secure Villa's passage to Wembley.
But Blackburn refused to give-up and Martin Olsson converted a wonderful over-head kick to give his side a little hope.
Brett Emerton's deflected effort six-minutes from time had Rovers looking for an unlikely fifth - but it was not to be as Ashley Young sealed an amazing 6-4 win with a brilliant individual effort in injury-time.
Villa will now line-up in the final at Wembley on 28th February where they will face Manchester City or Manchester United, and are one step away from lifting their first trophy since the 1996 League Cup.
The long suffering Villa fans will be hoping it is the start of a new era of success after many years of under-achieving since the 1982 European Cup triumph.
Martin O'Neill has slowly but surely rebuilt his team since arriving at Villa Park in the summer of 2006 with the accent on young English talent.
Now the likes of Milner, Young and Agbonlahor will have the chance to show their potential in a major final.
But it will also be special for a long-serving stalwart like defender Dunne, who moved to Villa in August and can now look forward to the first final of his career.
Slow start
O'Neill's men started slowly though and the aggregate scores were level when
Villa goalkeeper Guzan was indecisive when attacking what looked a catchable ball from an inswinging corner by David Dunn and Kalinic powered in a goalbound header which took a deflection off Warnock.
After 26 minutes Blackburn moved ahead on aggregate. Morten Gamst Pedersen had time to send over a left-wing cross and, although Guzan did well to keep out Olsson's close-range header, Kalinic converted the rebound.
Villa were given a lifeline in controversial fashion by Warnock four minutes
later. Agbonlahor clearly pushed Rovers skipper Ryan Nelsen to the ground as Young's right wing cross found its way through a ruck of players to former Blackburn player Warnock - who powered the ball into the roof of the net from close range. Rovers' protests to referee Martin Atkinson were in vain.
Villa started to gain some momentum and five minutes before half-time Heskey's pass was chased down by Agbonlahor, who was brought down in the box by Samba - who was clearly the last defender and given a straight red card by Atkinson.
Milner ensured Villa regained the aggregate lead by hammering the penalty past Paul Robinson for his eighth goal of the campaign.
Villa were now in the ascendancy and in first half injury-time Robinson parried aside a fierce drive from Villa skipper Stiliyan Petrov.
Villa dominated the opening stages of the second half and after 53 minutes an own goal from Nzonzi put them ahead on the night and 4-2 on aggregate - Carlos Cuellar flicked on a corner from Stewart Downing and Nzonzi turned the ball past Robinson under pressure from Dunne.
Three minutes later Villa struck again with a shot from Milner deflected by the chest of Agbonlahor past a stranded Robinson.
Villa were now rampant and after 62 minutes Blackburn cracked again as Heskey beat the offside trap after collecting a pass from Milner and he coolly rounded Robinson before netting.
Olsson made it 5-3 with a spectacular scissor-kick from Gael Givet's centre, before Robinson turned aside a header from Heskey and came off his line to deny Agbonlahor.
With six minutes remaining Emerton's volley crept under the body of a partially unsighted Guzan to further eat into Villa's lead - but Young had the final say in injury-time as he curled the ball wide of Robinson into the corner of the goal.
| Aston Villa |
Team Statistics |
Blackburn Rovers |
| 6 |
Goals |
4 |
| 2 |
1st Half Goals |
2 |
| 9 |
Shots on Target |
6 |
| 5 |
Shots off Target |
2 |
| 4 |
Blocked Shots |
3 |
| 8 |
Corners |
5 |
| 13 |
Fouls |
14 |
| 5 |
Offsides |
1 |
| 2 |
Yellow Cards |
2 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
1 |
| 81.5 |
Passing Success |
66.8 |
| 13 |
Tackles |
21 |
| 69.2 |
Tackles Success |
66.7 |
| 64.5 |
Possession |
35.5 |
| 50.4 |
Territorial Advantage |
49.6 |
|
