Aston Villa got the better of Blackburn in the first of their three upcoming meetings with a 3-1 win at Villa Park.
Diouf off for Rovers as Villa book fourth round spot
Aston Villa got the better of Blackburn in the first of their three upcoming meetings with a 3-1 win at Villa Park.
Nathan Delfouneso marked a rare start for Villa with the opener after 12 minutes when he headed home Ashley Young's cross.
Blackburn missed a great chance to draw level just past the half-hour mark when David Dunn saw his penalty saved by Brad Guzan.
Villa made Rovers pay for the miss with Carlos Cuellar doubling the lead on 37 minutes with a header from another Young cross.
Blackburn were reduced to ten men three minutes before the break when El-Hadji Diouf was sent off for a late tackle on Habib Beye.
Nikola Kalinic gave the visitors hope with a goal on 55 minutes, but John Carew made the game safe for Villa in the final minute when he scored from the penalty spot.
Villa boss Martin O'Neill and Sam Allardyce made it clear their priorities lie with Tuesday's Carling Cup semi-final first leg between the clubs by making seven and nine changes respectively.
But Villa's line-up still looked considerably stronger with the likes of Ashley Young, Emile Heskey, James Collins and Habib Beye amongst the players recalled to the starting line-up.
Ashley Young caused constant problems for the visitors and set up both of Villa's goals while youngster Fabian Delph impressed before having to be substituted at half-time through injury.
But Rovers posed more of a threat after the introduction of Morten Gamst Pedersen.
Villa dominated the early stages and forced two corners in quick succession - and, from the second of them, they created the first decent opportunity of the game.
Ashley Young's inswinging centre was met by Delfouneso but he failed to obtain a clean contact on his close range header and Rovers keeper Jason Brown was able to collect.
The pressure from Villa was constant and central defender James Collins had a goal-bound header blocked from yet another Ashley Young corner.
It came as no surprise when Villa broke the deadlock after 12 minutes through Delfouneso's first goal of the campaign.
Delph found Ashley Young on the left flank and he cut inside before sending over a teasing cross which Delfouneso was first to react to and he glanced his header past Brown from 10 yards out.
Ashley Young squandered a golden chance to double Villa's lead after 21 minutes.
Villa's stand-in skipper Nigel Reo-Coker found the England winger in space with a perfectly weighted pass with only Brown to beat.
But the former Watford player was hesitant and allowed Brown the time to spread himself and make the save.
Penalty
Blackburn had the opportunity to draw level after 31 minutes when Reo-Coker was adjudged to have brought down Steven Reid inside the Villa penalty area.
But Guzan guessed correctly and saved the spot-kick from former Birmingham midfielder Dunn away to his left.
It followed on from his five penalty saves, including four in the shoot-out, against Sunderland in the Carling Cup earlier in the season.
This was to prove a costly lapse for Rovers as after 37 minutes Cuellar doubled Villa's lead.
Michel Salgado was yellow-carded for a challenge on Stephen Warnock and the resulting inswinging free-kick from Ashley Young was met by Cuellar who glanced his header past Brown into the corner of the net.
Blackburn's misery was compounded in the 42nd minute when Diouf was given a straight red card by referee
