Tim Sherwood will go into work on Monday morning in charge of a team in the last eight of The FA Cup Quarter Finals after watched from the stands as Aston Villa beat Leicester City.
The new Villans boss will also have been buoyed by what he saw after a second half in which his side dominated and probably should have won by more than the eventual one goal margin.
Leandro Bacuna finally broke the deadlock before Scott Sinclair looked to have secured their path to the Sixth Round.
Aston Villa 2-1 Leicester City
The FA Cup
Fifth Round proper
Sunday 15 February 2015
Villa Park, Birmingham
Click here for match stats
However, Andrej Kramaric made for a nervy injury-time after pulling one back with a fine header, but Villa held on to progress.
Perhaps driven on by the desire to impress their watching manager-in-waiting, Villa began the game with energy and real attacking intent but, despite having much of the ball in the opening stages, couldn’t fashion a clear chance against Leicester’s resolute 5-4-1 formation.
At the other end the home side were looking a little nervous and that only seemed to increase when Matcin Wasilewski’s header from a Matty James corner flicked off the outside of the post and dropped wide.
From there it was a catalogue of errors at the back from the home side as Villa, time and again, gave the ball back to the visitors resulting in a series of set pieces.
From one of those Villa were indebted to their goalkeeper Shay Given, who pulled off a fabulous save to fingertip James’ 20-yard strike behind.
Watching from his raised vantage point in the stands, Foxes’ boss Nigel Pearson will have been pleased by an excellent first half display from his side, untested defensively and a threat from set pieces.
New Villa boss Tim Sherwood watched from the stands
A slight shift in shape in the second half saw Bacuna wider on the right-hand side, and Villa exploited that width in the opening minute. The Dutchman crossed for Fabian Delph who looped a header over.
As Villa had been in the first half, Leicester were then thanking their keeper Mark Schwarzer, who denied Benteke with a quite wonderful stop.
Alan Hutton returned a half-cleared corner with interest and the Belgian looked for all the world like he would slot home the opening goal but the 42-year-old stopper showed the agility of a man half his age to smother the big striker’s effort.
It had been all Villa since half time, so it was little surprise when Nigel Pearson changed his team’s shape introducing top scorer Leonardo Ulloa for Wasilewski but that did little to stem the Villa tide.
The goal the home side had threatened all half eventually came on 68 minutes, Leandro Bacuna stepping inside from the left wing and whipping an unstoppable shot into the far corner.
Scott Sinclair grabs Villa's second
Villa may be struggling to score goals in the Premier League, but that strike was the West Midlands side’s fourth in this season’s FA Cup and all have been superb efforts.
The home side did not rest on their laurels, however, and after Andreas Weimann saw his goal correctly chalked out for offside, Christian Benteke should have made it two as he cantered away from the Leicester defence only to strike over.
That could have proved costly almost immediately as the Foxes headed up the other end and Given was again to thank as he denied the visitors twice in a frantic goalmouth scramble.
Leicester huffed and puffed but never looked like blowing the Villa house down and the game appeared to be done and dusted as Benteke’s brilliant chipped pass set sub Sinclair away. The on-loan Manchester City man saw his shot fumbled into the net by Schwarzer.
However Leicester responded superbly and almost from the restart Jeffrey Schlupp raced down the left and crossed for Kramaric who thumped his header into the corner to set up a tense finish.
Aston Villa (4-3-3): Shay Given, Alan Hutton, Ciaran Clark, Ron Vlaar (c), Aly Cissokho, Ashley Westwood, Fabian Delph, Tom Cleverley, Leandro Bacuna, Andreas Weimann, Christian Benteke.
Subs: Scott Sinclair for Leandro Bacuna 77, Jack Grealish for Andreas Weimann 83
Subs not used: Brad Guzan, Jores Okore, Joe Cole, Carlos Sanchez, Matt Lowton.
Goals: Bacuna 68, Sinclair 89
Leicester City (5-4-1): Mark Schwarzer, Danny Simpson, Marcin Wasilewski, Wes Morgan, Matthew Upson, Paul Konchesky, Riyad Mahrez, Esteban Cambiasso, Matty James, Jeefrey Schlupp, Andrej Kramarić
Subs: Leonardo Ulloa for Matcin Wasilewski 65
Subs not used: Ben Hamer, Dean Hammond, Jamie Vardy, Andy King, Marc Albrighton, Liam Moore Bookings: Konchesky 60, Simpson 90+1
Goal: Kramaric 90
Referee: Mark Clattenburg
Attendance: 28,938
Highlights of the tie from Villa Park
