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GAME DETAILS
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FA Cup
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Attendance: 10,883
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1-3
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McGleish (90)
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Albrighton (35), Agbonlahor (64), Clark (78)
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| DT92 Count: 49 |
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DT92 Members at this game: (you can click here to load your profile picture) |
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Square One
92 |
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Sean Clevedon Gas
92 |
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miles gas
92 |
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Dermot AV
92 |
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gashead eric
92 |
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Aston Villa cruised into the fourth round of the FA Cup with a comfortable victory over Bristol Rovers.
Marc Albrighton set the visitors on their way with a low drive, before Gabriel Agbonlahor capitalised on a mistake to fire home from 30 yards.
Ciaran Clark's fine individual goal put Villa in control before a late rally from the hosts.
Scott McGleish lobbed Brad Guzan to salvage some pride, but missed from the spot in the final minute of the match.
After weathering an early burst of enthusiasm, Villa's victory was never in doubt and Rovers will be upset with the way they allowed their top-flight opponents to stroke the ball around, seemingly at will.
Once they went into the lead, Villa looked like they were out on the training ground, such was the ease with which they dominated possession.
The Pirates, who stand only two points clear of the League Two relegation zone and sacked manager Paul Buckle on Tuesday, staged a late fightback but it was all too little, too late.
In front of a bumper crowd, the hosts made a swashbuckling start to the match - the highlight being a Chris Zebroski shot that was easily dealt with by Guzan.
However, for all their huff and puff, Rovers struggled to create many clear-cut chances and it did not take long for Villa to establish their superiority.
It was not particularly pretty from the Premier League side, with too many passes going astray, but they did manage to create enough chances to earn a narrow half-time lead.
Did you know?Continue reading the main story
•The two teams were separated by 74 places heading into the match
•Aston Villa have won the FA Cup seven times, but their last triumph came in 1957
Emile Heskey twice went close, with a shot over the bar and a header that was well saved by Michael Poke, before Alex McLeish's side finally got their noses in front.
Albrighton, who was proving to be Villa's best outlet down the right flank, was sent scampering clear by Stiliyan Petrov's clever pass and he made no mistake with an angled shot from inside the penalty area.
Rovers caught their opponents cold in the early stages of the second half, but McGleish could only scuff Joe Anyinsah's pull-back with the goal at his mercy.
Agbonlahor was brought on by McLeish, perhaps in a bid to inject some urgency into his team's performance - and the move paid dividends.
With the match drifting, the England striker took things into his own hands by outmuscling his marker before striding forward and clinically placing his shot into the bottom corner.
Rovers remained short on inspiration despite their endeavour, but Anyinsah did force a corner with a low drive that Guzan turned around the post.
And victory was completed for Villa when the impressive Clark surged forward from the back and cut inside before placing his shot past Poke.
However, there was still time for some late drama.
McGleish capitalised on a poor Richard Dunne backpass to race clear and beat the advancing Guzan, before hopes of an incredible comeback were raised when Stephen Warnock was penalised for handball in the area.
McGleish stepped up, but saw his tame effort saved by the Villa goalkeeper.
Live text and stats
Saturday, 7 January 2012
FA Cup
Home Team Score Away Team Time
Bristol Rovers 1-3 Aston Villa FT
(HT 0-1)
McGleish 90
Albrighton 35
Agbonlahor 64
Clark 78
Hide team line-ups and match statsBristol Rovers
20 Poke
03 Sawyer
04 Woodards
05 Bolger
33 Downes
06 Stanley
11 Carayol (McGleish 28)
16 Anyinsah (McLaggon 86)
34 Dorman
18 Richard (Brown 79)
26 Zebroski
Substitutes
25 Cronin, 02 Smith, 14 Brown, 15 Anthony, 35 Goddard, 10 McGleish, 27 McLaggonAston Villa
22 Guzan
02 Hutton
03 Warnock
05 Dunne
06 Collins (Gardner 74)
07 Ireland
12 Albrighton
19 Petrov (Bannan 82)
21 Clark
09 Bent
18 Heskey (Agbonlahor 46)
Substitutes
33 Marshall, 10 N'Zogbia, 16 Delph, 25 Bannan, 38 Gardner, 11 Agbonlahor, 26 WeimannRef: H Webb
Att: 10,883
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Only the Villa
82 |
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stevegas
73 |
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dommoavfc
72 |
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GasAndrew
72 |
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The Eddie 1991
64 |
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sparkigol
63 |
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All about the Rangers
63 |
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Jonathanp1971
62 |
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seba
60 |
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Seb, Dom & JK manage to get tickets for this.
Early train for us, 4 cans for the train as we are already close to being broke despite christmas being 2 weeks ago.
Breakfast in weatherspoons and a crap pint. JK & Dom ''get married'' and sebs the photographer outside the registry office.
Watch the dogshit vs wolves game at the pub in what was a certain cure for insomnia. Awful 0-0.
Decide to walk to the ground as its only 5mile from city centre, take some drink with us, seb also makes use of the hip flask of the finest courvoisier - jk reluctantly accepts that brandy & coke is the one.
Onto the game - terracing! Super Marc with the opener, Gabby gets the 2nd, Clark with a well taken 3rd, then a fuck up from Dunne gifts McGleish a goal for Rovers. Game over 3-1.
Decide to walk back to city centre, Dom gets a photo outside a hair salon ''Nuala''... awwww.
Go for a KFC, then realise the trains at 9.15 and its gone 9pm now... so we run from KFC, bags and beers in hand, get to the station in time, ask the staff what platform to hear the heartbraking words.... you''ve missed the last train. Despite the crappy website saying there was trains at 9.15pm, even upto 10.30pm, nothing! The service had been changed and we''d missed the last train at 8.30pm, FFS.
Guy suggests we pitch in for a hotel and get a train back in the morning, we cant afford this. JK calls his mom who is ''willing'' to pick us up, doubt she''d be best pleased. Seb calls his bluenose mate green, who begrudgingly is also willing to pick us up.
Luckily we manage to hop on a train from Bristol-Gloucester so cuts 30miles off the journey, and Green comes to the rescue and picks us up from Gloucester. Back in brum before 11pm.
Good day out overall (minus the added expense at the end - all good fun though).
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Lando81
57 |
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Joegas
52 |
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markbrimson
37 |
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Trago
32 |
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covcat
0 |
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