Villa Knocks Out Ipswich - FA Cup Rd. 3

Not the greatest start by the Villa - giving up an own goal in the first half, but the 2 second have goals (Bent and Weimann) secured the comeback in this 3rd Round FA Cup match.  Weimann came off the bench.  Shay Given was solid in goal.  Two cup runs still alive - Up the Villa!   Bradford City net in the  CapitalOne Cup!

To Owe Great Thanks

Villa boys held on for a draw versus West Brom on Saturday.  Several thank you's are in order:

(1)  Shay Given - great save to maintain the clean sheet
(2) Chelsea - for beating QPR  6-1
(3) Tottenham - for beating Blackburn


How it stands at the moment:

Remaining games to play that matter to Villa:

Aston Villa:  Tottenham, Norwich City
Wigan: Blackburn, Wolverhampton
QPR: Stoke, Man City
Bolton: Tottenham, West Brom, Stoke (Bolton's game in hand may become very important)
Blackburn: Wigan, Chelsea

1-1 draw with Everton

It was nice to see Bent get back in the scoring mode.  It's been awhile.  Congratulations to Shay Given - first game coming back after injury and he made a magnificent save against a header from....Stephen Warnock, his TEAMMATE.  That was scary!

Villa was fortunate to get through the first-half nil-nil.  The lads were playing uninspired football.  Second half brought more energy and resulted in the Bent goal.  Then we shifted into "let's try not to lose" mode and we give up the equalizer.

Let's take the point and move on.  (...I'm not a Donovan fan, but it would have been nice to have someone  with his skill level on loan to Villa from the MLS)

Villa nil-1 Man Utd

The match remained close score-wise, but Villa just couldn't overcome the 1 goal first half deficit to Man Utd.  Man Utd, especially in the 2nd half, looked beatable today.  Just not by us I guess.  Shay Given left the game in the first-half with what looked to be a hamstring injury (Brad Guzan played the remainder of the game).  Not sure what to make of this game.  AMc sure looked angry on the sideline - my take on that is that the Villa lads were not able to implement AMc's game plan and it was driving the gaffer crazy.

Note: the most recent reports are saying Given's injury is not serious (let's hope not).

Gabby and Shay Save the Day

Gabby scored a sweet first half goal, but Shay Given was the man  of the match - making brilliant save after brilliant save to allow Villa to maintain a 1-1 draw with Newcastle at the final whistle.  The 15-20 minute, Villa looked sharp.  But after taking the 1-nil lead, the energy level dropped significantly.