Four months without a goal ended with Marcus Rashford scoring twice against Preston North End. A longer drought is also a step closer to concluding as those goals helped Aston Villa into an FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace.
It is 68 years since Villa last lifted this trophy and **Unai Emery**’s team will lick their lips at the possibilities that this campaign still presents.
Throw in the chance of successive Premier League top-four finishes and a Champions League quarter-final with Paris Saint-Germain to come too, times are good for those donning claret and blue.
Getting past Preston was not initially easy. **Paul Heckingbottom**’s team are resolute and limited Villa to few opportunities across the first hour. But quality told in the end.
Rashford’s rejuvenation following his winter loan move to Villa already included him regaining his place in the England squad and continued with him scoring his first goals for the club — and his first in any colours since December.
How timely they were, too. The first was a sharp side-foot from a Lucas Digne centre, the second a cooly-placed penalty.
Of course, Rashford was part of the Manchester United side that won this competition last season before being forced out of his boyhood club. He could join the likes of Brian Talbot and, more recently, Olivier Giroud in winning back-to-back FA Cups with different teams.
The 27-year-old’s arrival, along with that of Marco Asensio, has given Villa another dimension, but the likes of local lad Jacob Ramsey continuing to step up and drilling home the visitors’ third shows how adept Emery is at getting the blend right. This is a team covered in every area.
Getty: Robbie Jay Barratt
Getty: Robbie Jay Barratt
The seven-times FA Cup winners have not won the competition since 1957 but came close in 2015 when they were runners-up to Arsenal. Emery’s cup expertise gives them a new edge now.
Villa may have FA Cup history but it doesn’t stretch as far back as Preston’s, who were winners in 1889. Yet this was the Lancashire club’s first quarter-final in the competition in almost 60 years. The last Football League side to be eliminated have done themselves proud.
Story of the game
Preston had already hosted Fulham and Arsenal this season in the League Cup but there was no doubting that this was the biggest game for the club in modern times. Deepdale welcoming it’s biggest crowd since the 1971-72 season highlighted as much.
With a mediocre league campaign seeing them neither in threat of relegation nor having the chance of promotion — 17 of their 38 games have been draws — this was an occasion for the locals to savour on a bright but breezy Sunday afternoon.
Heckingbottom, who took over following Ryan Lowe’s departure from the club after the first game of the season, reached the semi-finals with Championship Sheffield United two years ago but was without as many as eight key players here due to a mixture of injury, suspension and ineligibility.
**Freddie Woodman**’s ankle injury meant Dai Cornell started just his second game of the season in goal, but he was largely untroubled during a first half in which Villa were slow and wasted their set-pieces: seven corners and two free-kicks in good positions hardly set panic in the Preston ranks.
Emery would have been fully aware of how Preston manage to keep opponents at bay, especially at home. Heckingbottom’s team were unbeaten in their last 15 home games in all competitions, conceding just nine goals in the process.
The Villa manager went strong with his team, clearly realising that this competition remains the best chance for his first trophy in charge, but did have Rashford playing centrally with Ollie Watkins only coming off the bench late on and spurning two good openings.
Villa hoarded possession but Preston’s confidence grew as they kept them at arms’ length. The home team even went closest before the break when Emiliano Martinez got a hand to **Robbie Brady**’s terrific ball from the right but Stefan Thordarson headed the rebound over rather than locating the target.
Getty: NurPhoto
Getty: NurPhoto
A notably higher press from Preston at the start of the second half offered Emery’s players more space in which to play. Cornell smothered Rashford after he was played in by Morgan Rogers, who had broke upfield. Rashford would not be denied for long.
The hour was approaching as Villa built play on the left and when Jacob Ramsey was tackled, Asensio was first to the ball to keep the move going. The Spaniard returned it to Ramsey, who fed it out to Digne. His pull back was met first time by Rashford and a swept finish opened his Villa account on his 10th appearance.
Rogers had a great chance to double the visitors’ lead moments later only for his effort at the back post to be blocked on the line. Still, the 22-year-old played his part in Villa’s second goal straight afterwards with his foot being stood on by Andrew Hughes in the penalty area and a spot-kick being awarded.
Asensio presented Rashford with the chance to double his tally and he demonstrated his current confidence by placing the ball on the spot, stuttering his run-up and slotting the penalty beyond Cornell to give Villa daylight.
Preston’s defence suddenly looked ragged, the party mood and adrenaline finally dissipating, and in the 71st minute Ramsey was able to easily run straight through the misshaped backline and fire a shot through Cornell’s hands to seal victory.