Hat-trick hero John Carew still cannot be guaranteed a starting place in Villa’s next outing despite his FA Cup heroics at Reading.

The giant Norwegian striker turned the quarter-final at the Madjeski Stadium yesterday on its head with two second-half goals, which saw the claret and blues overcome a 2-0 deficit and book a Wembley rematch with their 2000 FA Cup Final conquerors Chelsea.

It was easily Carew’s high point of a season which has seen his profile dwindle at Villa amid speculation that he could be on his way in the summer.

And it will take more than a hat-trick to persuade manager Martin O’Neill that he can rely on his 6ft 4in gentle giant ahead of Gabriel Agbonlahor, whose illness yesterday opened up a place for Carew to start, and Emile Heskey.

O’Neill said: “Gabriel Agbonlahor was poorly in the morning and had to go home, so John steps in and scores a second-half hat-trick which was absolutely delightful.

“John at his hungriest can perform like that. He got the equaliser for us and his game lifted two or three-fold.

“Goals give him confidence and the next thing you know he is running the game. He can do that and I want him to perform like that more often.

“I would be delighted if he could score a hat-trick every week but first he needs to find a level of performance which is up there with the best strikers.”

The April date with the Premier League leaders in another Wembley semi-final double-header represents the worse draw for O’Neill, even if supporters will be hoping their team can make up for the disappointment of their limp 2000 display.

But Chelsea confidently took care of dangerous Stoke challenge in their home quarter-final yesterday and are inevitably favourites to life the trophy.

O’Neill still will want nothing to do with any pessimism about his team’s prospects while the make-up of the second semi – Portsmouth against the winners of Spurs-Fulham replay – is resolved along with the Wembley scheduling.

The manager said: “We’re delighted to be in the semi-finals and we will take on anybody. Chelsea are one of the best sides in Europe, but we’ll take them on and certainly we don’t fear them.

“It’s really fantastic for the club and I do genuinely think the supporters there were fantastic for us following on from Wembley where I thought they were great.

“Even at 2-0 behind they were still shouting ‘Villa’ just before half-time which was fantastic

“As much for their sake I was pleased to be going in at just 2-0. I don’t think they would have wanted, having seen us all season, to have gone out so meekly.
“They’ve been great games and there’s been great excitement. We go for it.”