When the Third Round draw pit the Premier League and Championship’s lowest scorers against each other a feast of goals at Villa Park appeared unlikely.
And so it transpired – but it was the home side who finally belied their unwanted tag to break the deadlock and progress to the Fourth Round.
Aston Villa 1-0 Blackpool
FA Cup Third Round
Villa Park
Sunday 4 January 2015
Winners receive £67,500
The home fans had endured 341 goalless minutes since their team’s last strike at Villa Park but when the goal finally came it was well worth waiting for.
With the clock ticking towards 90 Christian Benteke took down Carlos Sanchez’s long pass and thundered the ball past Joe Lewis – another spectacular finish from a young man with a growing reputation for coming up with the goods when it matters most
It was an ending which looked unlikely at the interval after a drab first half.
Blackpool set up to frustrate their hosts and did an excellent job for much of the opening 45 minutes.
Villa did offer an early threat, Jack Grealish flashing a brilliant ball across the visitors' six-yard box three minutes in but sadly it was not a sign of things to come.
In truth the best two efforts of the first period fell to Blackpool.
On 27 Andrea Orlandi volleyed wide from a well worked Jamie O’Hara corner and then the same player had Shay Given scrambling across his goal once more ten minutes later when his cross deflected goalward off Ciaran Clark and the former Ireland international made an excellent save.
Villa did have their fans on their feet a minute before the break but those elated by the ruffling of the net were disappointed to discover it was the outside of the goal which Benteke’s shot struck.
Villa came out with renewed vigour at the start of the second half but with Blackpool stringing nine players across the edge of their penalty area each time the hosts entered the final third carving a way through was proving challenging.
Despite their stoic defending the visitors had looked threatening on the break throughout and sub Ishmael Miller could have settled the tie in the most spectacular of fashion with eight minutes remaining but he saw his 25-yard thunderbolt brilliantly tipped over by Given.
It looked for all the world as if the these two sides would have to do it again at Bloomfield Road but then Villa’s most dangerous player came up with a moment of real quality.
Aston Villa (4-3-3): Shay Given; Alan Hutton, Jores Okore, Ciaran Clark, Aly Cissokho; Tom Cleverley, Ashley Westwood (c), Carlos Sanchez; Joe Cole, Christian Benteke, Jack Grealish.
Subs: Charles N’Zogbia for Cleverley 63, Andreas Weimann for Grealish 75, Leandro Bacuna for Cole 90
Subs not used: Brad Guzan, Gary Gardner, Matthew Lowton, Riccardo Calder.
Goals: Christian Benteke 89
Bookings: Hutton 21,
Blackpool (4-4-2): Joe Lewis; Tony McMahon, Peter Clarke, Darren O'Dea, Charles Dunne; David Perkins, Mark Waddington, Jamie O'Hara, Andrea Orlandi; Nathan Delfouneso, Steve Davies
Subs: Ishmael Miller for Davies 63, Tom Barkhuizen for Orlandi 87, Dom Telford for Waddington 90
Subs not used: Elliot Parish, Nyron Nosworthy, Chris Eagles, Henry Cameron.
Referee: Chris Foy.
