Villa 0 Chelsea 3 – The Verdict
There’s no point me telling you what happened in yesterdays game as Im sure if you haven’t watched the game, then you would of read about it elsewhere by now.
Apart from the Police, the result and maybe possibly the referee I had another fantastic day out at Wembley and was proud to be one of the 32,400 Aston Villa fans there on the day.
In the end we ran out of steam and you can’t do this against teams like Chelsea, as they proved a few weeks ago at Stamford Bridge.
Never the less, I am proud of the lads for getting to Wembley twice in one season, I’m proud at them for how they really gave it a go yesterday and maybe, just maybe If a few decisions went our way we could of been going back for a third time.
Now we must learn from our experience’s and build on this for the rest of the season, and then next and I have a feeling despite this loss hurting the players we will learn a great deal from them.
Apart from the game yesterday I will have a moan about the local forces on patrol yesterday evening after the game. Especially in and around the Green Man Hotel. These are the people we pay our taxes to protect us and there behaviour yesterday was a absolutely disgrace.
They caused trouble amongst local people and Aston Villa fans when neither were doing anything wrong apart from waiting to get back to there homes or back on there coaches.
They say football hooliganism is going away? To be honest I don’t think the Police want this to happen.
Villa vs Chelsea in FA Cup Semi Final
Aston Villa managed to beat Reading today at the Majedski Stadium to ensure there name was in the hat for the FA Cup Semi Final draw.
Villa joined Portsmouth and Chelsea in the hat and one of Tottenham or Fulham, depending on who wins in the replay at White Hart Lane.
The FA Cup Semi Final Draw:
ASTON VILLA vs Chelsea
Portsmouth v Tottenham/Fulham
We are going to WEMBLEY again.
Boring boring Villa? I like to think we entertain the watching fans and we didn’t disappoint this afternoon when we took on Reading in the quarter final of the FA Cup.
An upset looked like it was on the cards when Reading went two-up just before half time.
Reading took the lead on 27 minutes when a corner from Howard was headed on by Mills and Long was free at the back post to head past Friedel.
The home side soon doubled their lead when Sigurdsson found Kebe who outpaced Warnock and he cut the ball back across goal for Long to make it 2-0.
I will admit that I gave up hope of any comeback. We looked down, and out after last week’s defeat at Wembley but how wrong could I have been. Martin O’Neill deserves credit for whatever he said in the dressing room because Villa comes out in the second half on a mission.
In a thrilling first ten minutes in the second half Villa completed turned this tie on its head.
On the 47th minute Downing passed to Carew who was in the box, he then chipped a little ball across goal only for Cuellar to mis-kick the ball. But coming in at the back post was Ashley Young and he fired the ball into the back of the net.
Villa was back to their normal selves. Milner found Downing in aches of space on the wing, who then swung in a beautiful cross to reach John Carews head, and Villa are back on level terms.
And then to complete the turnaround of the tie Warnock over lapped Young on the wing and then cantered the ball for John Carew to make it 3-2.
The days’ scoring was complete when John Carew was brought down in the area in the last minute of the game. The big Norwegian stepped up and booked Villas place in the Semi Final.
I know it seems so far away after last week’s result, but guess what lads.. WE ARE GOING TO WEMBLEY AGAIN!!
Full Time: Aston Villa 6-4 Blackburn Rovers
In a match which saw ten goals, looking more like a rugby score, I think it is fair to say I couldn’t go into a great deal of detail about each goal tonight as I quite simply can’t remember!
But the important thing is, Aston Villa will be playing in a cup final at Wembley next month – something I’ve been wanting to say for a long time now.
However, things didn’t look that way early in the first half as Kalinic, someone who couldn’t find the net in the last leg, couldn’t help but score this time around, firing home twice in the first half hour.
At that point, I’ll be honest – I thought we had messed everything up.
But it was hard strike on the six-yard line by former Blackburn player, Stephen Warnock which made us a bit more optimistic.
Things were even sweeter when Gabby Agbonlahor was brought down in the box resulting in being awarded a penalty kick and Samba being sent off. And before you ask, no doubts from me, it definitely was a correct decision.
James Milner didn’t fail to impress as he struck home a powerful penalty, despite Robinso diving the right way.
Just to keep you updated, at this point it was 2-2 and stayed that way until half time.
It was the second half that killed the game off and Blackburn’s sight of a cup final was becoming forever fainter, despite netting another two goals!
On the 52nd minute, an inswinging cross from Stewart Downing found the ball deflecting off the opposing players, with Steven Nzonzi being the unlucky one, ‘scoring’ and own goal to put the Villa 3-2 up (4-2 on aggregate).
It was Agbonlahor next on the scoresheet, first blocking Milner’s shot but managing to find the net from inside the six-yard area.
Next, it was no other than Emile Heskey. Yes, you read it write, Heskey can score in a ten goal match! But credit when it’s due, Emile played very well tonight and took this finish very well, taking the ball round Paul Robinson to finish off Villa’s fith of the match.
And it didn’t stop there!
It was Blackburn’s turn this time, with unmarked Martin Olsson scoring a spectacular over-head volley leaving Brad Guzan with no chance.
We had to wait until the last 10 minutes for the next goal and it came from Rovers again. Brett Emerton this time with a shot just outside the box, finding the bottom corner of the net. And I was worried about where the next goal was going to come from!
But thankfully, it was Ashley Young who rounded off this thrilling match with a fantastic finish, bending it past Robinson.
To conclude this perculiar, but outstanding match, no player for Villa scored more than one goal.
These being Warnock, Milner, Agbonlahor, Heskey, Young and an Nzonzi own goal.
Goals from Kalinic (2), Ollson and Emerton wasn’t enough to send them through as the game finished at a staggering 6-4, surely one of the best semi-finals the competition has seen.
Despite conceding four goals at home, we can now officialy say the words that have been overdue at Villa Park:
‘We’re the famous Aston Villa and we’re going to Wembley!’
On the march with O’Neills Army..
.. Were all going to Wem-ber….. No we are not quite there yet but Villa head into the crucial Semi Final clash against Blackburn Rovers tomorrow with a 1-0 lead from the away leg.
I say crucial, but some might say whats important to one man, isnt so important to next. Blackburn Rovers are bringing just under 2,000 supporters with them tomorrow despite FREE travel. Blackburn have returned 4,000 tickets. Quite shocking really and for this reason i really hope Villa give them a beating.
So for all those who havent already read the official website, there are now a limited amount of seats available in Block P of the Doug Ellis Stand – usually wear the away supporters sit.
Im sure we have all been reading the papers of the players and the manager saying what they are going to do, and how they really want the final but we all know talk is cheap, and the only talking the players can actually do is on the pitch underneath the famous lights of Villa Park tomorrow night.
The club are treating it special with free flags to help boost the atmosphere inside Villa and limited edition matchday programmes.
Villa have a full side to choose from, and i have a feeling we might see the return of Young, who will replace Collins with Cueller moving back into the middle.
One thing i know will be certain tomorrow is a electric atmosphere with the claret and blue faithful behind the lads. Come on the Villa!!
