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Wed 12 Dec 2009Villa pour through defence
ENGLISH LEAGUE CUP QUARTER-FINAL Portsmouth 2 Aston Villa 4: MARTIN O’NEILL’S knack in this competition is threatening to bring Aston Villa their first appearance at Wembley since the turn of the century. Progress into the semi-finals was smoothed last night against a porous Portsmouth side, whose priorities lie elsewhere, and with Stewart Downing, their €13.2 million summer signing, scoring on his first start.
Villa might have ended anxiously against the Premier League’s bottom club, Kanu sliding home in the dying moments but Ashley Young restored their cushion with a shot from close range.
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