December 2nd, 2009 by Phil Lythell

Aston Villa booked their place in the last four of the Carling Cup with a 4-2 win at Premier League strugglers Portsmouth.

The home side took an earlyt lead when Stilian Petrov guided the ball into his own net but the lead was only fleeting as Emile Heskey equalised almost immediately. The hard working James Milner then got on the scoresheet to give Villa a 2-1 lead at half-time and when Stewart Downing scored his first goal for the club on his first start to make it 3-1 the game looked up for Pompey.

But a late rally saw Kanu nudge the ball over the line in the 87th minute and a comeback looked on. That was until a minute from time when Ashley Young finally quitened the Fratton Park crowd as he made it 4-2 to send his team into the semi-finals of the Carling Cup.

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