A goal each from Christian Benteke and midfielder Fabian Delph was enough to cancel out Philipe Coutinho's 30th minute strike and make sure it was the Villa who progressed to the Fa cup final on may 30th and not the Reds.
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| Villa players celebrate Delph's goal |
A late Ballotelli strike was ruled out for offside and although replays show the Liverpool striker was in fact onside no-one could say that the Midlands side didn't deserve the luck and ultimately the victory. Even Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers admitted that Villa were the better team and worthy winners of this semi final contest.
It really was an amazing effort from Tim Sherwood's team in a game where everyone of their players can hold their heads high after putting in a fantastic performance to defeat the big Merseyside favourites.
The two goalscorers will take a lot of the plaudits and rightly so but there were solid performances throughout the team from 1-11. A special mention has to be given to the midfielders, the likes of Westwood, Grealish and of course Delph were brilliant and it is no coincidence that their control of the game had a telling contribution to the outcome of this cup tie.
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| young Grealish was in fine form |
It is a long old time until the final comes around at the end of May and it is going to be full of many more cup finals if Villa want to keep their place in the Premier league. I am sure though that Sherwood will keep his troops focused and make sure that they don't get carried away with the dreams of the cup final. There is still obviously work to be done and the last thing any team wants to be doing is turning up at Wembley to face holders Arsenal as a relegated team. As I have said before I don't think this will be the case and I reckon that Sherwood will have a few harsh words for any of his players who show any signs of complacency.
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| Sherwood the mastermind behind the success |
Tim Sherwood is more than aware that as much as getting to a cup final is a fantastic achievement, especially given where the club were when he took over, nothing at all is as important as keeping their top flight status.
beat the Gunners in the final, that combined with league safety will be the best kind of double the Aston Villa fans could hope for.
I will be round my mates on Fa cup final day as is tradition and I will be cheering on the mighty Villa.
Here's hoping they can lift the famous old trophy for the first time since 1957, incidentally they were underdogs that year as well when they beat Manchester United the Busby babes no less.
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| Villa with the cup in 1957 |
Onto the cup final then and.....
Come on the Villains
Up the Villa!!
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