Thursday 14th January 2010, FA Youth Cup 4th Round, The Hawthorns, Kick-Off 7:00pm

 

Albion	0 - 2	Aston Villa
	515	Gardner 58
		Halfhuid 70
0	Half-Time Score	0
0	Yellow Cards	0
0	Red Cards	0

Albion: Allsop, Gayle (Grier 77), Downing, Malcolm, Waghorn, Elford-Alliyu, Thorne, Mantom, Brown, Berahino (Mannion 85), Wood. Subs not used: Tebbutt (gk), Connolly, Roofe

Aston Villa: Siegrist, Grocott, Gardner, Williams, Deeney, Lampkin (Roberts 69), Divine, Blythe, Carruthers, Halfhuid, Simmonds (Nelson-Addy 88). Subs not used: Barrett (gk), Stieber, Taylor

Referee: Neil Radford (Worcestershire)

Gary Gardner and Ansenio Halfhuid fired Villa into the fifth-round draw – but it was goalkeeper Benjamin Siegrist who took the plaudits.

The Swiss under-17 international made a string of fine saves to keep Albion at bay and Villa made their hosts pay with two second-half goals last night.

Albion star man Saido Berahino was denied half-a-dozen times in the first hour, before Gardner scored a long-range free-kick on 58 minutes and Dutch striker Halfhuid netted a classy second 12 minutes later.

Villa had the first real chance when Samir Carruthers fed Ryan Simmonds and Ryan Allsop in the Albion goal could only parry, but defender Tom Waghorn cleared. But it was Albion who started more brightly and should have netted twice in the opening 10 minutes.

First Wood broke clear and saw his shot saved by Siegrist, with Saido Berahino’s follow-up deflected onto the woodwork. Then Lateef Elford-Aliyu burst down the right and ste up Sam Mantom, who fired wide when he should have hit the target.

But Villa threatened as well, with defender Gary Gardner heading over after arriving unmarked to connect with Jason Lampkin’s corner.

After a high-tempo start the game settled but Albion threatened once more on 25 minutes when Kayleden Brown skipped down the right and crossed for Wood, who found Berahino. His first shot was stopped by Siegrist and his second flew well wide.

Berahino was denied again when a wonderful body swerve took him between two defenders, only for Siegrist to save. Elford-Aliyu then jinked to the edge of the box but shot straight at the goalkeeper.

Five minutes before half-time, Berahino combined well with Elford-Aliyu but his shot was again denied by Siegrist. Berahino was denied again at the start of the second-half, when his curling shot was tipped over by the flying goalkeeper. Elford-Aliyu was next to test Siegrist, but he fired straight at him.

But, moments later Villa were ahead, as Gardner hammered a free-kick from 25 yards and it beat Allsop, despite his outstretched right hand.

With 20 minutes remaining Villa wrapped up victory, when Albion lost possession in midfield and the ball broke for Halfhuid to beat Allsop with a superb chip.

Siegrist then intervened twice more, first to push a Berahino free-kick over the bar and then to block a drive by Elford-Alliyu.

Express & Star