Villa winger James Milner insists he won’t shy away the next time a penalty comes along despite missing from the spot against Cardiff.

Having scored from 12-yards against Portsmouth on Saturday lats night, after Stiliyan Petrov had been fouled but the England star fired against the right post.

But it was to prove inconsequential, as the claret and blues reached the Carling Cup fourth round with a 1-0 win thanks to Gabby Agbonlahor’s early goal.

Yet despite missing, Milner is adamant he won’t be scared of putting his hand up the next time the referee points to the spot.

He said: “I’ll take the next one. The keeper was never going to get it, another half a yard inside and it was in the net. I should have scored but we won the game anyway.

“I thought I’d go the other way to the other day in case they watched it. I struck it well, but it just hit the post so it’s one of those things.

“Ashley Young had one, scored, then missed one, so we just agreed I’d take the next one and who knows what will happen now.

“It doesn’t really matter who takes it as long as it ends up in the back of the net and unfortunately last night that didn’t happen.

“The main thing was to get through. I thought we created some good chances and played pretty well. Obviously we could have made it a lot easier for ourselves with the penalty if that would have gone in. They were always going to be tough opposition, so to go through with another clean sheet is the main thing.”

Villa boss Martin O’Neill was relieved to progress after going out at the third-round stage to Championship opposition in the previous two years.

O’Neill said: “I think that Cardiff were never out of it, and played some nice football, but we seemed to be in reasonable control. I am delighted to have won and avoided another defeat in the competition.”