Villa fight back to make it a painful start for Potter
WINNER: Morgan Rogers of Aston Villa celebrates scoring his team's winning goal . Picture: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
Aston Villa celebrated their 150th birthday with a comeback win to end their poor FA Cup form and make it a miserable return to management for West Ham United’s Graham Potter.
Goals in six minutes from substitute Amadou Onana and Morgan Rogers completed a real tie of two halves after Villa were booed off at half-time following Lucas Paqueta’s ninth-minute opening goal.
But West Ham could rightly feel aggrieved after replays confirmed Villa shouldn’t have won a corner in the build-up to their equaliser as Boubacar Kamara’s wayward shot failed to hit an opposing player on its way out of play.
The result meant Unai Emery has won an FA Cup tie at Villa Park with Villa.
Before this tie Villa had been knocked out of the competition seven times out of the last eight at this stage.
Villa, who wore plain black shirts in a throwback to their first kit in 1874, looked as unfamiliar as their strip as they struggled to get out of first gear before the break.
West Ham took the game to Villa from the off and it was no surprise when they took an early lead.
Paqueta had the first chance in the opening minute. He let fly with a dipping, curling angled effort that appeared to just graze the angle of post and bar.
It was Paqueta who opened the scoring.
The Brazilian had the simple task of sidefooting into the net after Niclas Fullkrug’s pierced Villa’s high line for Crysencio Summerville out wide to pull the ball back into his path.
Paqueta celebrated by playing air guitar while Villa’s Matty Cash and Ezri Konsa lay helplessly on the ground as they tried desperately to block the shot, all too late.
Mohammed Kudus had Robin Olsen scrambling to hold his low drive at the second attempt as West Ham showed no ill effects of the early loss of Fullkrug.
The German forward pulled up sharply, presumably with a muscle strain as he raced to join an attack, and was replaced by former Villa striker Danny Ings.
It was little surprise Villa were booed off at half-time, making the parade of former players in claret and blue scarves around the pitch during the interval a very subdued affair.
Five minutes into the second half, a miskicked volley by left back Ian Maatsen summed up Villa’s night so far as it trickled out of play a few yards in front of him.
It didn’t get much better for the hosts as Morgan Rogers sliced high and wide after Leon Bailey wriggled clear of Ollie Scarles to cross.
Villa appealed loudly for a penalty when Youri Tielemans’ cross hit the sliding Edson Alvarez but replays showed the ball cannoned off his foot then side.
But Villa were improving, pushing West Ham Back and building a head of steam.
Bailey’s angled shot hit Maximilian Kilman then Tielemans drove the rebound wide as Ollie Watkins turned provider for Villa.
Villa were level when Amadou Onana stabbed home just in front of the line on 71 minutes after goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski spilled Maatsen’s drive – teed up by Konsa – when Tyrone Mings flicked on a corner.
A triple substitution by Villa a minute later turned the heat up on West Ham even more.
Rogers fired Villa ahead in the 76th minute after Watkins twisted and turned to cross low to the near post.
It was a simple move to expose West Ham’s failure to close down from front to back.
Goalkeeper Olsen found Tielemans, who passed to substitute Emiliano Buendia, who sprayed it out wide to Watkins.
Fellow substitute Jacob Ramsey then rattled the post with a curling shot as Villa were suddenly rampant, piling forward at every opportunity with the Hammers seemingly unable to stop them.
Rogers blocked Ings’s close-range effort as West Ham belatedly attacked. But Villa had done enough.
: Olsen 6; Cash 7 (Nedeljković 72 minutes, 6), Mings (c) 7, Konsa 6, Maatsen 7; Kamara 7 (Buendía 72 minutes, 6); Bailey 6 (Ramsey 72 minutes, 7), Barkley 5 (Onana 23 minutes, 7); Rogers 8; Tielemans 6, Watkins 7.
: Bogarde, Burrowes, Digne, Gauci, Jimoh-Aloba.
: Fabiański 7; Wan-Bissaka 6, Kilman 6, Mavropanos 6 (Guilherme 85 minutes, 6), Scarles 6 (Cresswell 77 minutes, 6); Álvarez 6 (Carlos Soler 85 minutes, 6), Souček (c) 6; Summerville 7, Kudus 7, Lucas Paquetá 8; Füllkrug 6, (Ings 15 minutes, 6).
: Casey, Foderingham, Irving, Rodríguez.
: Tim Robinson 7/10
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