Villa 3 Crystal Palace 1
Wednesday 24th February 2010, 9:59PM GMT.
John Carew was the hero as Villa marched into the FA Cup quarter-finals after clawing their way past Championship outfit Crystal Palace.
Carew scored twice from the spot to rescue Martin O’Neill’s men from extra-time in the fifth-round replay, after Darren Ambrose’s penalty had cancelled out Gabby Agbonlahor’s opener.
That progress was achieved without the need for a further half hour’s play will have come as a huge relief to the Villa manager, with a Carling Cup final against Manchester United just four days away.
The claret and blues were the better side throughout, but almost paid for their profligacy against a spirited Palace team who were always going to make life difficult for them.
Having spurned a host of chances, Villa finally took the lead three minutes before the break when Agbonlahor glanced home Man of the Match Ashley Young’s corner.
But the striker was among those guilty of missing further second-half chances and eventually they came to rue them 17 minutes from time, when Stephen Warnock clumsily caught Alan Lee inside the box and Ambrose made no mistake with the resulting penalty.
Villa responded admirably and within eight minutes they were level, when Carew dusted himself down after being hauled down by Matt Lawrence to lash home from the spot.
The big Norwegian secured the tie a minute from time in repeating the feat – once again after being clumsily caught by the hapless Lawrence – to ensure a happy send-off for Sunday’s crunch Wembley showdown.
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