Violence mars Brum’s derby delight
Thousands of Blues fans charged towards the Villa supporters and dozens of missiles and some flares were thrown before order was restored, and City can expect to face FA action.
Zigic’s deflected shot five minutes from time settled the tie after Gabriel Agbonlahor had cancelled out Sebastian Larsson’s early penalty.
Villa were the better side for long periods. But they were unable to deny City their first win over their local rivals for five-and-a-half years, which booked them a semi-final against West Ham.
Dozens of additional police had been hired for the match but they struggled to keep the sheer numbers of rioting fans in check.
“I’m disappointed by that side of things,” he told Sky Sports 1. “Fans shouldn’t come on to the pitch at any time. It soured it a bit for us.
“I don’t think that will affect the World Cup bid, I’m sure that’s already decided, and let’s hope England gets it because it deserves it.
“It doesn’t look good though, when you see fans running on the pitch like that and carrying on. It takes us back to the Dark Ages.”
Meanwhile, Brum’s Barry Ferguson was in ebullient mood in the aftermath, saying: “It’s a great feeling, it’s been a long time coming.
“I am just delighted to be in the semi-final. Villa came out well in the second half. The guys never lie down. I was always confident.”
Of the gap narrowing between the two teams, Ferguson added: “We’d like to think so. I can see us starting to close the gap on Villa.”
Blues striker Cameron Jerome had the first shot on goal after being found in space by Keith Fahey. But Villa keeper Brad Friedel had his body behind the low drive from the former England Under-21 striker.
Villa were the first to settle and Zigic cleared a goal-bound header from James Collins from a Stewart Downing corner.
But then Birmingham took the lead against the run of play after 10 minutes through a Larsson penalty, coming after Lee Bowyer and he was brought down by Villa skipper Richard Dunne.
The hosts then thought they had doubled their lead after 28 minutes.
Larsson’s corner fell into the path of Zigic whose low shot was dragged back by Friedel when replays suggested it may have crossed the line. But one of the assistants raised his flag with Liam Ridgewell adjudged to be offside.
Villa took advantage of this good fortune and after 30 minutes Agbonlahor struck at St Andrew’s for the third successive game to bring his side back on level terms.
Jonathan Hogg threaded the ball into the path of Agbonlahor and his low cross shot flew past Ben Foster into the corner of the net.
Birmingham had a chance to instantly regain the lead when Jerome found himself with only Friedel to beat. But he lofted the ball over the veteran goalkeeper and wide of the far post.
Villa looked the more likely to snatch a winner in normal time and came close to taking the lead when Foster parried a shot from Stephen Ireland and then Ashley Young’s follow-up effort was cleared off the line by Dann.
But with five minutes remaining Zigic’s deflected shot put Birmingham back in front.
Jerome made a powerful run down the right and his low cross found Zigic whose shot deflected off Luke Young and looped over Friedel.
Villa almost rescued the tie when Ciaran Clark headed just over from Downing’s cross.
But the final whistle was the cue for the ugly scenes and police had to form a solid barrier between the two sets of fans.
BIRMINGHAM: Foster, Carr, Johnson, Dann, Ridgewell, Larsson (Murphy 88), Ferguson, Bowyer (Gardner 65), Fahey, Jerome, Zigic (Derbyshire 90).
ASTON VILLA: Friedel, Luke Young, Dunne, Collins, Warnock (Delfouneso 90), Ashley Young, Clark, Hogg (Pires 90), Bannan (Ireland 72), Downing, Agbonlahor.
Referee: Chris Foy (Merseyside).
