It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t easy, it wasn’t even convincing. But again this Villa team proved they can deliver what matters most.

Right now, however they play there is one common denominator – a result to send supporters home happy.

Gillingham, like Everton, West Ham, Arsenal and Hull before them, looked set to take something from what Martin O’Neill described as a ‘blood and thunder’ FA Cup third-round tie.

For the Villa of old it would have meant doing it all over again in a replay. Not this team. Late goals and a lacing of luck have become a habitual ritual for Villa these days and so it proved again at the Priestfield.

The Gills certainly felt harshly done by when referee Keith Stroud adjudged Adam Miller had tripped Ashley Young inside the box late on. It was a controversial one, contact appeared minimal, but Gills boss Mark Stimson himself admitted he’d ‘seen them given’.

Not that it mattered to birthday boy James Milner as he fired in his second of the game.

For years claret and blue bosses have bemoaned decisions going against them versus ‘bigger sides’ but now they are up there with the big boys, the dice is regularly rolling O’Neill’s way.

There was Gabby Agbonlahor’s penalty against Arsenal, the Ashley Young ‘handball’ at Hull and again Young was the protagonist at the Priestfield.

It was interesting that he, such a confident player, was not the one who stepped up to take the penalty in Gareth Barry’s absence. His miss at Arsenal surely the reason.

But with the the sight of Milner, without a goal before yesterday, stepping up came as a surprise. In his 23rd appearance since his summer move, Milner’s first goal was certainly overdue.

Breaking his scoring duck eased some of the £12million club record price tag that sits on his shoulders, giving him the confidence to put his neck on the line.

Remarkably, it moved the claret and blues moved into the FA Cup fourth round for only the second time in eight years. Just as staggering for a club of Villa’s size is the fact it is 52 years since they won it.

While breaking into the top four remains the number one priority, a run in the competition should not be too far behind. Distraction it is not.

Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and, most menacingly of all, Manchester United remain but the Red Devils face Tottenham and a tricky Merseyside derby awaits Rafa Benitez’s side.

Villa’s path to the last 16, a trip to Doncaster or Cheltenham, looks a lot less taxing.

As Cardiff demonstrated last season, the path to Wembley does not necessarily have to be beset with the big boys. Middlesbrough was the only Premier League side they faced.

Their results against the ‘big four’ this season – just one defeat in five – prove even if they did draw one of them they would be in with a shout. On current form, Villa are a team no one wants to play.

O’Neill made three changes, Nicky Shorey and Craig Gardner in for the injured Luke Young and Barry, while 17-year-old Nathan Delfouneso given the nod over Marlon Harewood to replace the sick Agbonlahor.

It was a further indication Harewood’s claret and blue career looks set to grind to a halt this month.

The League Two side put Villa under early pressure but by the 14th minute the claret and blues’ class told.

Petrov punished Gills skipper Miller’s hesitancy, exchanging passes with Milner before the ex-Newcastle man opened up his right foot and steered inside the right post.

As at Hull, Villa’s defence looked by no means watertight – more than once there were some heated inquests into who had let their marker go – and they suffered several lucky escapes.

Gary Mulligan pulled the ball back from the byline but Dennis Oli fired into the side-netting and Milner almost turned from villain to hero, when his horror backpass left Zat Knight exposed, the defender just managing to toe the ball away with Simeon Jackson set to pounce.

This was turning into a real cup tie, the Gills were fired up for their big day in front of a sell-out crowd. Nigel Reo-Coker went into the book for a cynical challenge on Oli on the edge of the box, after he had skipped past two Villa players.

Then Jackson, who lived up to his billing as the Gills’ principal threat, headed a John Nutter cross wide from a good position. Villa finished the stronger but they could count themselves lucky to be ahead at the break.

They started the second period well too, England under-21 star Craig Gardner playing a stunning diagonal ball half the length of the field, allowing Villa to counter but Milner opted to shoot from long range, rather than pass to the better-positioned Delfouneso.

By the 57th minute they had been made to pay, Jackson making light of the three tiers separating him and Knight. He turned the Villa defender and clinically smashed past Brad Friedel.

Cue bedlam among the home support, their dream was alive. So much for the 7-0 or 8-0 thrashing feared by Stimson.

A purposeful run and shot from Delfouneso almost maintained his 100 per cent Villa scoring record but his 20-yard effort flashed inches past the post.

Villa were back in charge by now, the Gills running out of steam. Curtis Davies’ profligacy in front of goal was apparent again, when he failed to convert a brilliant cross from Knight, of all people.

It was turning into a real hammer and tongs cup clash full of last-ditch tackles and penalty-box melees. The only ingredient missing now was some late drama.

That followed in the 79th minute, when Young tumbled inside the box under Miller’s challenge. Milner converted with a low shot – despite Royce guessing the right way – for his second.

An unfamiliar hero for a fabulously familiar finale.