FA Cup - Milner double sends Villa through

Eurosport - Mon, 05 Jan 09:10:00 2009

James Milner scored twice as Aston Villa overcame League Two Gillingham with a 2-1 FA Cup third-round victory at the Priestfield.

FOOTBALL; Aston Villa's Nigel Reo-Coker (r) and Gillingham's Gary Mulligan battle for the ball. Jan 2009 - 0

Milner opened the scoring with a fine early goal before the home side hit back 13 minutes into the second half with a superb strike by Simeon Jackson.

Both sides pressed hard for a winner on a difficult, bobbling pitch, and Milner scored the winner from the penalty spot with 12 minutes to play when Ashley Young was barged inside the box.

The bitterly cold conditions did not effect the capacity crowd at the Priestfield and the game started in a frenetic atmosphere, with the home side showing good confidence on the ball in the early stages.

But Villa took the lead with the first shot on goal with 13 minutes gone when Milner - celebrating his 23rd birthday - outmuscled Gills skipper Adam Miller, interchanged passes with Stiliyan Petrov and fired sweetly past Simon Royce from the edge of the box.

The home side almost drew level a couple of minutes later when fine work from Gary Mulligan down the right saw him pull the ball back for Dennis Oli, but he shot into the side netting.

And Gillingham continued to have their Champions-League-spot-chasing opponents on the rack as the half progressed. First Miller had a free-kick right on the edge of the box deflected narrowly wide, before Jackson glanced a header a yard wide at Mulligan's free-kick.

But the Gills got the goal they craved 12 minutes into the second half when Mulligan flicked on for Jackson and the Gills' top scorer lashed the ball inside Brad Friedel's near post in some style.

Both sides pressed forward in search of a winner in the final half hour, with manager Martin O'Neill growing increasingly frustrated on the touchline as Gillingham demonstrated their enthusiasm for the fight with some hefty challenges.

And it was a poor challenge that handed Villa the chance to win it as Lewis just failed to pull out of a tackle while Young burst into the box from the left, the winger making contact with the defender's thigh and earning the referee's decision.

With regular penalty taker Gareth Barry missing from the line-up, Milner stepped up to calmly fire home from the spot to put his side back in front - a lead they held onto in the final ten minutes as Gillingham tested the Villa defence with a series of high balls into the box.

Alex Sharratt / Eurosport

Comment 8 - 27 of 27

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  1. Fair play to Gillingham, they played as well as any premiership team on that day. I will take nothing away by saying villa played badly or had injury issues, Gillingham literally stepped their game up to meet the level required.

    As a Villa fan i'm very glad to finally get past the 3rd round, but all credit due to Gillingham, they made a match out of it.

    From Mike S, on Mon 5 Jan 11:50AM

  2. after the first half i was willing to put money on this being another FA cup upset. Gillingham looked to of had the most possession but then after they got the equalizer the game turned on its head.. it seemed to have woken villa up and they were pulling the game back. i felt as though the penalty was extremely harsh and sadly that was the deciding goal in the game. you could tell that Gillingham felt hard done by, by the way they threw all they had at villa in the closing stages of the game. anyways good luck villa

    From mykie g, on Mon 5 Jan 12:26AM

  3. The top teams win even when playing badly. Just a few % better than the opposition does it sometimes, or even a few % worse. Villa outplayed Arsenal but finished with a 2-2 draw. That's why we (or some of us) turn out to watch this game, there are no real certainties.

    From David, on Sun 4 Jan 11:23PM

  4. Get real and try please to get this racist stuff off here. This is a FOOTBALL site and most of us enjoy a bit of banter even though our views may be different. That depends of course on who you support. Villa are doing well with a few BRITISH lads who should be in the England team and Martin O'Neill is a legend in this country, in fact why the hell is he not England manager? Until he came they were boring now they are exciting going forward and it is great to see them trying to kick out the safe top 4.

    From taff, on Sun 4 Jan 10:47PM

  5. FAMINEISOVER 1690, you racist @#$%, i hope you starve to death, it's what you deserve!

    From MichealS, on Sun 4 Jan 9:56PM

  6. gillingham played well
    villa were just lucky 2 win

    From Kez, on Sun 4 Jan 9:48PM

  7. Think you need how to spell your favourite team, before praising them 4eva. D'oh!!! Typical dyslxic Blue Nose!! ROFL!!!!!!!!!!

    From Matt, on Sun 4 Jan 9:48PM

  8. BIRMNIGHAM 4EVA

    From Stewart, on Sun 4 Jan 9:27PM

  9. job done sums up the day !!

    Villa fan

    From David, on Sun 4 Jan 8:39PM

  10. How can anyone, apart from villa fans, say that was a penalty!
    young conned the ref, just a few minutes before as well with a dive.

    I think that was the worst penalty decision in a long time.

    Alex sharrat! did you even see the game?

    From nazif58, on Sun 4 Jan 8:32PM

  11. FAMINEISOVER 1690 he is from Belfast Northern Ireland, he even captained them as a footballer......P***K

    From lee, on Sun 4 Jan 8:10PM

  12. and cokrowinoto Villa were average...without Barry, Agbonlahor, Laursen, Carew, L.Young and Bouma.....but did OK....job done

    From lee, on Sun 4 Jan 8:07PM

  13. p. simpson come on..... just like the foul awarded against reo coker which was just outside the box, the foul on young was exactly the same a Foul.

    The game was a poor spectacle and villa did struggle, I think Gillingham were very unlucky not to get the replay, which is in fact what M O'Niell said he would have been happy to take with 15mins to go.

    From wills1108, on Sun 4 Jan 8:06PM

  14. Since when has two or three defenders clattering someone, putting their arms all over someone, elbowing and pulling shirts been classed as diving ????? Young is 9st 4lbs in weight.......he is easy to knock down....but not a diver. Any forward in the penalty area being hit with a foul will go to ground, no matter what shirt he weats. It was a penalty. Good cup tie, but if Gillingham were that good week in week out they wouldn't be 74 places below Villa would they.

    From lee, on Sun 4 Jan 8:03PM

  15. Younge is nothing but a diving cheat should have put him in the olimpics he would have got a medal for his dives. Gillingham where robbed of a draw but appart from younge what a great game.

    From phi1.simpson, on Sun 4 Jan 7:44PM

  16. MARTIN IS A LEGEND

    From sophie l, on Sun 4 Jan 7:14PM

  17. Villa are UNSTOPPABLE

    From sophie l, on Sun 4 Jan 7:13PM

  18. Villa were ordinary at best. MON would have admitted it. But luck was again with them. Was it a penalty? It's academic now. But overall Gillingham gave them a game and could have scraped through with a draw. Congratulations to Villa. See you in the final.

    From cokrowinoto, on Sun 4 Jan 6:42PM

  19. St.Martin wins again as he did for Celtic week in week out a fab manager and a lovely man xx

    From Esther, on Sun 4 Jan 6:12PM

  20. jealousy is a terrible thing!!

    From jbagz06, on Sun 4 Jan 5:09PM
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