Crystal Palace earned an FA Cup replay against Premier League Aston Villa after a dramatic 2-2 draw at Selhurst Park.
Away side twice hit back to thwart Palace and deny cup shock
Crystal Palace earned an FA Cup fifth-round replay against Aston Villa after a dramatic 2-2 draw at Selhurst Park.
The home side twice took the lead in rainy conditions in South London, with Austrian defender Johannes Ertl opening the scoring with a header from a Darren Ambrose corner on 24 minutes.
But Villa responded well and levelled the scores soon after as James Collins rose from a Stewart Downing corner to head past Julian Speroni.
Palace worked tirelessly throughout and did not let up in the second half and they were rewarded as Ambrose gave them the lead once more with a stunning 36-yard free-kick.
However, Villa denied a cup shock late on when captain Stiliyan Petrov made it three goals from headers, latching onto a Downing corner with three minutes remaining.
A replay a week on Wednesday will pay off another chunk of Palace's £30million debts and the way Neil Warnock's side scrapped no-one should write them off reaching the quarter-finals just yet.
To say Palace were up against it in this tie was an understatement. The club went into administration a fortnight ago with those staggering debts.
Uncertain
The players' futures are uncertain, manager Warnock does not know if he will be in a job from one week to the next and the canteen lady has not been paid for two months.
There have been lots of beans and toast on the menu at the club's Beckenham training ground but you cannot fault the spirit in the side.
And for long periods in an entertaining, at times pulsating cup tie, they gave as good as they got. As good as Warnock had promised, in fact, when he predicted they would not go down without the mother of all scraps.
Ambrose up front was a constant threat. Neil Danns was also a menace and if Danny Butterfield could not conjure up the six-minute hat-trick which dispatched Wolves in the last round then he epitomised the buckets of sweat shed by the South London team.
But give Villa credit. Martin O'Neill paid Palace the respect of fielding his strongest side with Emile Heskey up front and Downing and James Milner in midfield.
And Villa dominated much of the possession. But it was Palace who took the lead and when it came after 24 minutes it came from an unlikely source.
Austrian defender Ertl had never scored for Palace in two years at the club. But he might well never have had a better delivery come his way, a corner swung in by Ambrose which homed in on Ertl's bald head.
A quick flick of the neck and the ball flew past goalkeeper Brad Friedel and the cup upset appeared to be on, even if the goal did come against the run of play.
If Danns' crisp shot had also found its way past Friedel then Villa would have been in trouble.
Quality
As it was Villa composed themselves and announced their intention to scrap just as hard as their Championship rivals.
When the equaliser came it had the mark of England quality. It was also a carbon-copy of the Palace goal.
This time it was Downing who threw in an in-swinging delivery from the right and Villa defender James Collins rose above everyone to head home from inside the six-yard box.
It was no more than Villa deserved, although the last action of the first half saw Friedel scrambling away a 25-yard thunderbolt of a free-kick from Ambrose.
Villa should have taken note, especially when Ambrose lined up another in he 69th minute.
This one was further out, but the strike was even better this time and it was past the despairing dive of Friedel in the blink of an eye.
What a wonderful strike. What a way to win a football match. Except it did not. Because Petrov swooped to get Villa out of jail. They barely deserved it.
| Crystal Palace |
Team Statistics |
Aston Villa |
| 2 |
Goals |
2 |
| 1 |
1st Half Goals |
1 |
| 4 |
Shots on Target |
6 |
| 6 |
Shots off Target |
2 |
| 3 |
Blocked Shots |
3 |
| 5 |
Corners |
11 |
| 16 |
Fouls |
14 |
| 0 |
Offsides |
7 |
| 4 |
Yellow Cards |
1 |
| 0 |
Red Cards |
0 |
| 61.4 |
Passing Success |
65.7 |
| 13 |
Tackles |
14 |
| 53.8 |
Tackles Success |
92.9 |
| 46 |
Possession |
54 |
| 54 |
Territorial Advantage |
46 |
|
