Villa win but fans turn on Lambert
Paul Lambert insisted it was “strange” to hear chants against him as Aston Villa fans called for his head despite his side winning yesterday.
Supporters’ frustrations boiled over during Villa’s 1-0 FA Cup win over Blackpool with the first audible shouts of ‘We want Lambert out’ from home fans this season.
The poor hosts struggled to break down Blackpool, bottom of the Championship, and needed Christian Benteke’s 88th minute winner to squeeze through.
Villa have scored just twice in six games and have won only three of their last 17 outings but Lambert said he did not understand the chants minutes before the winner.
“When you are dominating and the lads are patient, then it’s a bit strange,” he said. “I’ve had it all my career at times but it doesn’t do the lads any good, it doesn’t do the team any good. The players have been great but they’ll be hurt by it.”
Benteke struck his third goal of the season to edge Villa into the fourth round.
Lambert added: “Christian has just come back from an injury and I said it would take him six or seven games to get to full speed. It was a great goal. We deserved to win. It’s testament to ourselves teams are filtering right back. It’s never easy to unlock a team.”
Lee Clark, who has won just once in 11 games as Blackpool boss, was pleased with his side as they came close to earning a replay. Andrea Orlandi and Ishmael Miller forced Shay Given into smart saves and Clark urged his men to take the positives.
He said: “The level of performances, with exception of the Bournemouth game (a 6-1 defeat) have been high. We need to turn them into wins. We have to make sure we stay in the Championship.”
ASTON VILLA: Given, Hutton, Okore, Clark, Cissokho, Cleverley (N’Zogbia 63), Westwood, Sanchez, Grealish (Weimann 75), Cole (Bacuna 90), Benteke.
BLACKPOOL: Lewis, McMahon, Clarke, O’Dea, Dunne, O’Hara, Waddington (Telford 90), Perkins, Orlandi (Barkhuizen 87), Davies (Miller 63), Delfouneso.
Referee: Chris Foy.
