Villa edged out the spirited challenge of League Two Gillingham to book a place in the FA Cup fourth round.

The Gills had fought back from James Milner’s early opener with a Simeon Jackson equaliser, only to cave in to a penalty with 11 minutes to go, Milner netting the spot kick winner with his second.

This came when home skipper Adam Miller – arguably at fault for the first goal – checked Ashley Young in the box.

It had taken just 13 minutes for Villa to break the deadlock at the Priestfield Stadium, Milner robbing Miller of the ball and playing a neat one-two with Stiliyan Petrov, before curling the ball over Simon Royce in the home goal.

Despite the setback, the League Two minnows would just not lay down, and Dennis Oli twice should have done better when in a good position in the box.

After the interval, the home side sensed they might nick one and, lo and behold, they did after 57 minutes.

Jackson showed great poise to beat Zat Knight, who was in close attention, to Gary Mulligan’s flick on and shoot with authotity from the edge of the box, past Villa goalkeeper Brad Friedel.

But Villa came back to put themselves into the fourth round for the first time since 2005, after they were awarded a penalty.

Milner stepped up and put it past the dive of Royce who, to his credit, had guessed the right way.