10-man Villa lead Bolton at half-time

Aston Villa 1 Bolton 0 - HT

Aston Villa were given a Carling Cup lifeline by Thomas Hitzlsperger but then found themselves reduced to 10 men in the Carling Cup semi-final second leg clash with Bolton at Villa Park tonight.

Hitzlsperger curled home a free-kick after just nine minutes to cut Villa’s aggregate deficit to 5-3.

But then with seven minutes of the half remaining McCann was shown a straight red card after appearing to slap Emerson Thome in the face after an initial clash on Jussi Jaaskelainen.