Villa win it in Second

The last two games of the FA Cup quarter finals were played on Sunday with the most exciting game of the two being at Reading. The home team, struggling in the Championship had been having a great run in the cup, and it looked like continuing as they went in at the interval 2-0 ahead, with both goals coming from promising young striker, Shane Long. Things looked down and out for Aston Villa at the break, but they came out for the second half with a whole load of fresh vitality. Vitality that saw them shatter Reading' s hopes for a place in the semis with three goals in the space of ten minutes early in the half that saw Reading's lead disappear as fast as it had come. England World Cup Squad hopeful Ashley Young notched up the first, and then Villa's giant Norwegian born striker made his indelible mark on the game by scoring a rapid brace to put the amber and claret soccer uniforms very much in the driving seat. Villa's amazing comeback was sealed in stoppage time as Carew completed his hat-trick from the penalty spot after he had been fouled by Reading's Ingimarsson.

Villa are having a great season by their standards, in the Semi Finals as well as very much in the running for that highly important fourth place in this season's Premier League. March will be a very decisive month for them, and things are looking good for them. Yesterday's win was amazingly the first that the club had had in the month of March since Martin O'Neil became manager of the club in 2006.

The other semi saw John Terry and Chelsea taking on the less glamorous but hard working Stoke City side at Stamford Bridge. Terry has been very much in the headlines in the last few weeks and for all the wrong reasons. His performances on the field in the last few weeks have also been less than impressive, but yesterday he put in a solid performance and even scored the decisive second goal in Chelsea's relatively easy 2-0 win.

Frank Lampard, who is hitting some pretty good form as the season progresses, opened the scoring for Chelsea, hammering in a powerful drive form more than twenty yards. Chelsea created a number of chances, some of which they should have taken advantage of before Terry sealed the victory with a typical header from Lampard's corner. Stoke rarely threatened, with the only real chance coming from one of Rory Delap's famous long range throw ins. Ex-Chelsea player Robert Huth's headed it on, and Mamady Sidibe flicked his header in from close range when it looked easier to score. What was obvious to all in attendance is that Chelsea have a real problem with their replacement keeper Hilario, in for the injured Peter Cech. Better teams will give this Portuguese veteran a really difficult time, and one of them will surely be Aston Villa who will meet Chelsea at Wembley in the first semi-final. Portsmouth will play either Tottenham of Fulham in the other.

There was also some Premier league action yesterday with Everton pushing Hull below the red line with a crushing 5-1 home win. Spanish star Mikel Arteta marked his recent return from injury by scoring two goals for the Toffees. Other scorers for the Goodson Park Club were American Land on Donovan, and promising young player Jack Rodwell. Hull's Richard Garcia also chipped in with an own goal for the blues, while teenager Tom Cairney scored Hull's solitary effort at the right end of the park, equalizing with a superb volley