Carew hat-trick completes Aston Villa comeback
Reuters - Sunday 07 March 2010, 18:19
LONDON - Holders Chelsea advanced to the
semi-finals of the FA Cup with a 2-0 home win over Stoke City
while Aston Villa joined them after coming from 2-0 down to win
4-2 at Reading with a John Carew hat-trick on Sunday.
The two winners will meet in the Wembley semi-finals on
April 10/11 when Portsmouth, who beat Birmingham City 2-0 on
Saturday, will play either Fulham or Tottenham Hotspur, who drew
0-0 at Craven Cottage.
Stoke, seeking their first semi-final since 1972 having
previously knocked out Manchester City and Arsenal, went close
after 15 minutes when Hilario punched a Rory Delap long throw
straight to Dean Whitehead, whose shot was cleared off the line
by Jon Obi Mikel.
However, Chelsea, beaten in their last two games, soon took
control and went ahead after 35 minutes with a trademark Frank
Lampard shot from the edge of the box.
Defender Andy Wilkinson cleared two goal-bound efforts as
Chelsea cranked up the pressure in the second half but he could
only deflect John Terry's firm header from a corner that made it
2-0 after 67 minutes.
"It's never easy after a defeat like last week, that's not
normal for us," Lampard told ITV. "We've come back ready to put
it right and in a very difficult game today I thought we handled
it very well."
Reading were the last remaining non-Premier League club in
the competition and in the quarter-finals for the first time in
83 years after upsetting Liverpool, Burnley and West Bromwich
Albion in previous rounds.
BETTER TEAM
They were by far the better team against a Villa side who
lost the League Cup final to Manchester United last Sunday and
deserved the lead earned by Shane Long's goals after 27 and 42
minutes.
Villa looked a different team in the second half though and
within 10 minutes had turned the game round.
Ashley Young scored after 47 minutes before Carew, a late
addition to the starting team after Gabriel Agbonlahor was taken
ill in the morning, made it 3-2 with goals after 51 and 57.
Reading came back well and three times went close to an
equaliser before Carew's stoppage-time penalty.
Relieved Villa manager Martin O'Neill said he had been happy
to reach halftime only 2-0 down.
"After our first-half performance I think most of our
players were grateful to get a second chance but just to be back
at Wembley is great," he told the club's website.
"Sometimes it is nothing to do with pretty football.
Sometimes it is just to do with character, determination and the
ability to fight. I think we had lost that in the first half and
it came back to us in the second half in great abundance."
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