I saw about fifteen seconds of this match nearly eight hours after it ended. What I saw was pretty great; Heskey looked sharp, Delfouneso's ball to Ashley was a thing of beauty and by all accounts Villa were in complete control for all of the second half.
The original plan was to recap this one from the perspective of trying to follow along at work, but due to an exceptionally busy day at work not even that was in the cards. No matter. Villa won the first match of the Gerard Houllier era, and based on what I've heard from those that were actually in attendance they looked to be a team reborn for the second forty-five minutes. That's a lovely change from the way things have been going.
Haven't heard much on the Gabby injury front, and hopefully no news is good news. John Carew was ineffective once again, and as much as it pains me to say this Emile Heskey is a better player than a version of John Carew that has lost the scoring touch. In the ends Villa were able to defeat an inferior team soundly at home with a squad composed largely of second-team players. A win to enjoy, certainly, but let's not go crazy. Villa now travel to Molineux to face Wolves, a club that they should by all rights defeat but that has nonetheless given them fits in recent years.
A good win, but a win that should have been expected. The draw for the next round takes place on Saturday.