Source: Daily_Mail
Reading 2 Aston Villa 4: Carew fires hat-trick to deny Royals a giant-killing
Martin O'Neill knows how it feels to be left out - but he also knows about fighting back. Brian Clough did not pick O'Neill for Nottingham Forest's 1979 European Cup victory against Malmo but, a year later, the Northern Irishman was back in the side to lift the trophy after beating Hamburg.[LNB]To use an O'Neill word, it must have been 'delightful' to watch John Carew lead the Villa resurgence with a second-half hat-trick after setting up his side's first goal in a thrilling FA Cup comeback which set up a Wembley semi-final against Chelsea.[LNB]Carew, after all, was forced to watch Aston Villa's Carling Cupfinal defeat by Manchester United from the bench and was only promotedto the starting line-up when Gabriel Agbonlahor was struck down with astomach bug, despite scoring two goals in Villa's fifth-round replayagainst Crystal Palace.[LNB] Perfect 10: John Carew heads the equaliser for Villa[LNB][LNB][LNB]FA CUP SEMI-FINAL DRAW [LNB]Aston Villa v Chelsea[LNB]Fulham or Spurs v Portsmouth[LNB]Ties to be played at Wembley on weekend of April 10-11[LNB]O'Neill said: 'I got left out of a European Cup final, neverthinking I'd be back to play in one the next year. You just think yourlife has been ended but you have to fight back. I want players to showthat character all the time because it's the only way we will achievesomething.[LNB]'Gabby Agbonlahor was ill so John steps in and scores a second-halfhat-trick which was absolutely delightful. I have said before that whenJohn is at his hungriest he can perform like that. He got the goal andhe improved three-fold.'[LNB]The game of two halves is a tired clich?but yesterday's memorable FA Cup clash at the Madejski Stadium delivered just that.[LNB] [LNB] Super Shane: Long (No 9) scores the opening goal[LNB]Click here for FA Cup semi-final draw reactionAston Villa were decidedly second-best in the first half and anotherCup upset looked to be on the cards for Championship side Reading, whohad already knocked out Premier League sides Burnley and Liverpool. [LNB]O'Neill was not being sarcastic when he said he was pleased to reachhalf-time only two goals down. Villa's raft of young English talentpromised width and excitement, but it was Reading particularlythrough Gylfi Sigurdsson and Jimmy Kebe who delivered.[LNB]Short-lived: Long celebrates[LNB]Reading's pressure paid off after 27 minutes when Matt Mills beatthree defenders to nod on Brian Howard's corner and find Republic ofIreland striker Shane Long at the back post and his header found thenet.[LNB]Three minutes before half-time they got a deserved second whenSigurdsson put Kebe through in the right channel. England contenderStephen Warnock, watched by Under 21 boss Stuart Pearce, was chasingshadows as Kebe cut the ball back to Long, who was lurking in the boxand slotted it into the bottom left corner.[LNB]At the break, few would have bet against Reading reaching the FA Cupsemi-finals for the first time since 1927. Their impressive home recordsince Brian McDermott took over on January 27 six wins and a draw ineight outings before yesterday looked set to continue.[LNB]O'Neill was not impressed. Ashley Young said: 'There were a fewtough words at half-time. Our first-half performance wasn't as good asit could have been and he told us about that.'[LNB]Villa responded with three goals in 10 minutes. Young got the first on 47 minutes following a knock-down from Carew.[LNB]The equaliser came just four minutes later when Stewart Downingdelivered the sweetest of crosses to Carew, who headed home. Sixminutes later it was Carew again, meeting Warnock's cross with theoutside of his left foot.[LNB]He was able to complete his hat-trick with a right-foot penalty after Ivar Ingimarsson brought him down in stoppage time.[LNB]McDermott said: 'We knew if we kept it tight for 15 minutes we wouldhave had a real chance but, unfortunately, that didn't happen.'[LNB] Pompey 2 Birmingham 0: Piquionne's brace fires crisis club to WembleyFulham 0 Tottenham 0: Gomes saves the day for Spurs in stalemateWatch out Aston Villa, Reading's giant-killer Brian Howard loves to shockASTON VILLA FC
