Mighty Aston Villa: Wembley and Carling Cup Final Awaits

Aston Villa overcame Blackburn Rovers in a scintillating encounter at Villa Park, which saw the home side prevail 6-4 victors in the second leg of their Carling Cup semifinal.

Following a 1-0 win away at Ewood Park, all Villa had to do was secure an easy 0-0 draw and they would be safely through to the final.

But of course —being Aston Villa—some things just aren't done the easy way, and this was one of them.

It was a truly pulsating cup match which saw Blackburn turn the whole contest on it's head after just 30 minutes.

Within 10 minutes of the match beginning, Nikola Kalinic had headed home the first goal to make the aggregate scores 1-1 and 0-1 to Blackburn on the night. 

The Croatia striker then put Rovers ahead overall as he fired home after stand-in goalkeeper Brad Guzan parried into his path, making it 0-2 to the visitors.

However, Villa was soon back into the game as Stephen Warnock scored against his former club to make the score 1-2 —before the home side —very much against the run of play, found an equaliser just before the break.

It came from the penalty-spot as Chris Samba brought down Gabriel Agbonlahor, for which he was red-carded, and James Milner stepped up to convert an impeccable spot-kick.

After the re-start, Villa's comeback was complete as they went ahead through a Steven Nzonzi deflected goal from inside the six-yard box after Richard Dunne poked the ball goalwards.

Striker partners Gabriel Agbonlahor and Emile Heskey then both got on the scoresheet, making it 5-2 on the night and virtually securing Aston Villa's passage to Wembley and a Carling Cup Final.

Blackburn refused to give up hope, with Martin Olsson converting a spectacular bicycle kick to give his team at least some sort of consolation.

And then Brett Emerton's deflected effort six minutes from time had the Rovers looking for an unlikely fifth goal, and a potential upset could well have been on the cards—such was the idiosyncratic nature of the tie.

But in the end, it was just not to be as Ashley Young sealed a dramatic 6-4 win with a brilliant individual effort in injury-time that curled beautifully past a helpless Paul Robinson, who despite conceding six, was still rather impressive throughout the match.

Man of the Match: James Milner, who was instrumental in several Villa goals, creating passages of play with superbly accurate passing, as well as a tremendous work ethic and just sheer brilliance all-round.

It was a performance that further highlighted why he should most certainly be in Fabio Capello's plans for England at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Attendance: 40,406

Referee: Martin Atkinson