So far so good.  Aston Villa have the advantage at what is effectively half time in their Carling Cup Semi-Final tie with Blackburn Rovers after winning 1-0 at Ewood Park tonight.  Blackburn really didn’t look like they have much fight in them for much of the game and we have to be cautiously optimistic that we will be booking ourselves a trip to Wembley when the final whistle is blown at Villa Park next Wednesday night. Cautiously optimistic, but optimistic nevertheless!

It was great to see the lads get on the pitch again for only the second time this year and encouraging not to see any signs of cobwebs with a comfortable display all round.  Even better, it was a double cup victory tonight with the youth side beating West Brom 2-0 at the Hawthorns in the FA Youth Cup 4th Round. Well done to the youngsters.

Milner scored the game’s only goal in the 23rd minute after carrying the ball most of the way up the pitch himself on the break supported by Stewart Downing on his right. He fed Downing as they entered the box who played an intelligent low cross back towards the 6 yard box where a gratefully unmarked James Milner simply passed the ball past Robinson at the far post.

Blackburn had their moments midway through the second half and rattled the woodwork a couple of times, but Villa were very good value for their victory.  Gabby was unfairly shown a yellow for diving when I think most referees would have given a penalty.  Mark Clattenburg is not most referees though.  He also awarded Blackburn a free kick for handball in the area from a Villa corner just before half time, but the hand in question looked to belong to Christopher Samba. Mr Clattenburg will no doubt be embarrassed to learn that Samba plays for Blackburn. The clue was the shirt he was wearing.

Villa came out strongly in the second half and looked likely to double their lead only for Blackburn to inexplicably show some resolve, most likely motivated from their first strike against the woodwork with Dunne and Guzan left looking a little exposed.

But it was not to be for Blackburn. MON brought Steve Sidwell on for the last 20 minutes in place of the frustratingly unselfish Emile Heskey and switched to a 4-5-1, keeping Milner and Petrov with Sidders in the middle. It wasn’t long before Gabby sent Ash through on goal with a header and the way he’d played up to that point you would have put your house on him scoring, only to see him shoot just to the right of Paul Robinson’s goal.

And so it finished 1-0 with Villa putting in a strong, confident performance without being overly spectacular. It looks like they have plenty in the locker for the second leg at Villa Park and if Blackburn can’t manage a significantly better performance they have absolutely no chance of getting a result.

It’s still too early to pop any champagne corks just yet, but from what we’ve seen so far it’s hard not to start thinking about the first trip to Wembley in a decade!!

Again, it was a fairly polished performance from everyone tonight, although I was particularly pleased to see a positive and lively display from Ashley Young who always looked dangerous, but will surely be replaying that second half chance back in his mind. Hopefully he can continue to build on this to recapture his best form as we push on into the tricky part of the season.

A final mention has to go to the travelling support who were in fantastic voice throughout the match and provided an excellent atmosphere despite the odds. If that spark is present in Villa Park next week the place is going to be jumping!!