Brave Palace crash out

February 24 2010

Matt Lawrence

Crystal Palace bowed out of the FA Cup after two late Aston Villa goals consigned them to a 3-1 defeat.

The tie was heading for extra-time after Darren Ambrose's penalty had cancelled out Gabriel Agbonlahor's first half goal.

But John Carew won and converted two late penalties - both given away by Matt Lawrence - to send Villa into the quarter-finals.

The home side started well with tame efforts from Agbonlahor and Carew before Eagles keeper Julian Speroni was first called into action to save Agbonlahor's drive.

Ashley Young forced Speroni to tip his shot over the bar, then Carew's attempt was blocked by the Argentine stopper.

Young and Stephen Warnock threatened, while Palace looked dangerous from a couple of corners.

But three minutes before the interval, Villa scored a goal their dominance deserved - although it came from another disputed corner.

Referee Martin Atkinson decided the ball had come off Nick Carle instead of James Milner, and from the resulting set-piece from Young, Agbonlahor beat Shaun Derry to head home.

Speroni made a superb save to keep out Young's strike in the second half but Palace started to raise their game.

They levelled the scores after 72 minutes when Stephen Warnock bundled over Lee in the penalty box and Ambrose netted the subsequent penalty.

However, Lawrence dragged down Carew after 79 minutes and the striker buried the spot-kick for 2-1.

Then he did it again, this time a late tackle inside the area with two minutes to go and Carew scored the penalty.

Aston Villa: Guzan, Luke Young, Cuellar, Dunne, Warnock, Ashley Young, Milner, Delph (Sidwell 76), Downing, Carew, Agbonlahor.

Not Used: Friedel, Delfouneso, Davies, Heskey, Beye, Collins.

Palace: Speroni, Clyne, Davis, Lawrence, Butterfield, Carle (Comley 83), Derry, Ertl, Danns (Djilali 90), Lee (Andrew 90), Ambrose.

Not Used: Manns, Hill, Scannell, N'Diaye.

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