VILLA BEAT VALE TO REACH FIFTH ROUND

By Ryan Ghee
January 28 2006

A brace from Milan Baros and an injury time goal from Steven Davis ensured that Aston Villa reached the fifth round of the FA Cup at the expense of League One outfit Port Vale.

Baros opened the scoring with twenty minutes of the match remaining and added a second just minutes later. However, a goal from Vale's Lowndes set up a tense finale until Davis made sure of the win with an injury time goal of his own.

The first half proved to be very frustrating for David O'Leary's men as they failed to find a way through the stubborn Port Vale defence.

Despite having the majority of the early possession, the home side found it difficult to create any clear chances and James Milner's long-range effort was all they had to show for their early efforts.

The first clear-cut chance of the match fell to Sam Togwell of Port Vale as the League One side, who have only ever beaten Villa once in their history, looked to catch their hosts on the counter attack.

Michael Husbands whipped in a pin-point ball to Togwell who, from only six yards out, failed to find the target with his header.

With Villa still intent on taking the lead before the break, Milan Baros had a great chance to break the deadlock.

The Czech international striker firstly saw his effort well blocked by Goodlad in the Vale goal before lashing the ball over the bar just seconds later.

With the home fans starting to become restless, the Villans came out after half time looking to immediately settle their nerves.

Just minutes into the half, James Milner had another effort on the Vale goal but he failed to direct his shot and the ball flew into the stand behind the goal.

With Port Vale starting to gain confidence from their opponents' lack of attacking prowess, they had another great chance to take the lead against the run of the play.

After beating the Villa offside trap, Constantine had a clear run on Thomas Sorensen's goal, but when composure was needed, the striker rushed his shot and dragged it wide of the far post.

As the clock ticked down, David O'Leary decided to sacrifice Angel in order to add some spark to a largely ineffective front line with the introduction of the returning Kevin Phillips.

Within just two minutes of entering the pitch, the striker made an immediate impact as he played Milan Baros in on goal who calmly stroked the ball past Goodlad to give Villa the lead.

Four minutes later, Baros doubled his tally as Olof Mellberg flicked Milner's corner to the far post, where the striker was waiting to convert from only two yards out.

Despite facing an uphill challenge in the last fifteen minutes, Vale refused to give up and with five minutes remaining, Nathan Lowndes flicked a near post header past Thomas Sorensen to give the away side a small glimmer of hope.

However, in the closing moments of the match, Steven Davis ended the Port Vale dream as he restored Villa's two goal advantage.

The Northern Irish youngster met Lee Hendrie's delivery with a close-range diving header to make sure of the win and book Villa's place in the fifth round of the competition for the first time in six years.