Que sera sera…

Carling Cup Semi Final – Second Leg
Villa Park, Wednesday 20th January 2010

Aston Villa 6 – 4 Blackburn Rovers (7-4 agg.)

I don’t know where to start with this game. I cannot remember a time that I have been through so many different emotions over a two hour period. I left Villa Park full of pride, confusion, and a hint of disappointment.

First things first, Villa Park is a beautiful stadium. It is a ground I have always wanted to visit, it just sums up so much about English football. In an age when most clubs are moving out of town into purpose built, identikit, lifeless stadia, Villa Park retains such character. Approaching the ground from the Holte End, you are struck by a classic piece of red brick architecture, not just a football ground. The view from the away end was great, and the atmosphere created by the club by giving out those free flags was brilliant. Other than the decision to not allow alcohol sales in the away end, I would say Villa Park is possibly the my fourth favourite stadium to have visited (NB – Millennium Stadium, the Maracana and the Nou Camp are ahead. Old Trafford is fifth.)

The atmosphere in the away end was fantastic for nearly all the game. My disappointments with our fans, once more, was due to booing players. Steven Warnock booed throughout (silly) but even worse was the sections of our ’support’ who booed the inclusion of Morten Gamst Pedersen in the starting XI. My feelings on MGP’s form are well known, but to boo a member of our team before he has even taken the field, in a semi final? Terrible.

Onto the game. I’ll be honest, most of the first 10 minutes were a blur. Then Niko Kalinic bagged a goal from a corner. Away end erupts, 1-1 on aggregate, game on.15 minutes later, pandaemonium. Kalinic again, with the goal scoring instinct which some fans have seen in him all season. It is all well and good keeping a youngster on the bench to build up his fitness, but when we haven’t been scoring goals why has this guy not been playing. His eye for goal reminds me a bit of Chris Sutton – he is never going to score spectacular goals but he knows when to be in the box to take his chances.

For the next four minutes we were in dream land. Wemb-er-ley and all that. We’d arrived here as the underdogs, yet were in the lead within less than half an hour. Rovers have been terrible away from home for the best part of two years, yet now we were beating an Aston Villa side who could still push for that magical fourth spot in the league. However, then Martin Atkinson and his assistant made their mark on the game. Ashley Young swung a good ball across the box, Agbonglahor pushed Ryan Nelsen down, the ball reached Warnock and Villa were level in the tie. I agree with Big Sam that this is the moment that changed the match; Rovers were in the ascendancy, and could probably have grabbed a third before half time the way we were playing. Yet instead our confidence was knocked, and Villa got their foothold in the game.

10 minutes later and the game looked dead. From the away end it looked as if Chris Samba had won the ball, yet the ref thought otherwise and as last man he had to walk. Seeing the incident again at half time it was hard to disagree. James Milner slotted away, 2-2. Half time. Shell shock. In 45 minutes I’d gone from hopeful, to booking train tickets to London, to angry, to despair. Little did I know that the second half would be even more confusing.

Like the first half, we had to score first. After 53 minutes a bundle in the box at the opposite end of the field went into our net, coming off Steven Nzonzi. Shit. Five minutes later a long shot from Agbonglahor comes off one of our defenders and flies past Robbo. Double shit. Yet after each goal our fans didn’t give up; in turn, neither did our players. Even the usually-lackluster Pedersen kept running. Another five minutes, 5-2. Emile Heskey (target of a torrent of ‘you’re shit’ abuse from our fans throughout the game) rounded Robinson and we were out of it.

Or were we. Almost from kick off the ball broke to Pedersen wide on the left, who knocked in the kind of ball we all  long for him to produce. Martin Olsson, who in the last two and a half games has emerged as one of our most exciting prospects in years, executed a perfect scissor-kick. This chap is/was a left back, but scored the kind of goal Zidane would be proud of. 5-3, surely not?

Benni McCarthy came on, and pushed a half-volley just wide, things must be over. 84th minute, another overhead kick. This time the unflappable Brett Emerton hit the ball goalwards and somehow it deflected in. 5-4. SURELY NOT? Two more goals my lord, two more goals. Or not. Ashley Young scored the 10th (TENTH) goal of the game in injury time to finally dash our hopes.

At the full time whistle the Villa fans flood onto the pitch, which I can fully understand. After a game like that, and knowing that you are off to a cup final, I’d want to celebrate. Yet it really pissed me off, as it meant that our players couldn’t come over and get the ovation which they fully deserved from fans who wanted to say thank you. Yes we had lost, but I have rarely been as proud of a Blackburn Rovers performance. We had played with ten men for the best part of an hour, yet never looked completely out of the game. In fact, at 5-2 we should have been buried, yet got back to touching distance. Those players ran their hearts out for the cause, which one can’t not be proud of. Robbo made a few fantastic stops; Gael Givet once again threw himself in the way of near enough everything; MGP shifted into central midfield and provide a bit of spark alongside Emerton’s engine room; David Dunn ran until he could barely move; Steven Reid came off the bench and looked that bit sharper again; Martin Olsson once again showed touches of true class; Niko Kalinic did all he could, held the ball up for his team mates and took his chances.

Que sera sera, we aren’t going to Wembley. However, if we play like that in the second half of the season then relegation is not even a possibility. At times this season I’ve felt a bit down, but if you had offered me a cup semi-final and 12th in September I’d have had your hand off.

Tags: Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, League Cup

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 24th, 2010 at 15:46 and is filed under Match Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.