Mark Bosnich backs 'outstanding' Jed Steer to help guide Aston Villa to Wembley success

Steer saved two spot-kicks in the dramatic semi-final second leg shoot-out against the Baggies, pulling off fantastic stops against Mason Holgate and Ahmed Hegazi to help Villa to Wembley.

Former 'keeper Bosnich also has similar memories, saving three penalty kicks as Villa overcame Tranmere in 1994 to book their place in the League Cup final, which they went on to win 3-1 against Manchester United.

And he admits that Steer's performance against the Baggies was something to behold.

"[He was] outstanding." Bosnich said.

"Those first two saves were absolutely outstanding. He had a look of a goalkeeper that was going to win it.

"A lot of it is about body language, not all of it obviously. But he just had that look when he was stood up in those goals I could tell when he was going to save them.

"So he was absolutely outstanding, let's just hope that it continues on to the big one.

"The only thing you've got to be careful of, and I've done this myself, is if you've saved a penalty early, and then you still end up on the losing side.

"But when you end up on the winning side and you've done a job like he's done, there's no better feeling. It's a great feeling to have."

In what's been quite a tale in Villa's thrilling season, Steer saw himself loaned out to Charlton Athletic having started between the sticks in the side's opening game of the season.

Following that, the former Norwich stopper came back to the club in January, only to see Lovre Kalinic take the starting spot in goal before suffering injury - throwing the 26-year-old into the starting XI.

But after grasping that opportunity, Steer has flourished in goal, keeping the Croatian international on the bench following his return.

"He's shown great character throughout his career so I'm really happy for him." Bosnich said.

"It's not [easy] when you've been shipped off here and shipped off there. I think he's done a great job.

"It's funny because Kalinic is from Croatia - and I'm Croatian really, my father's from Croatia, he's an excellent goalkeeper as well, so I'd love to see him do well.

"But at the moment, I just want to see Aston Villa back where they belong, which is in the Premier League."

Watch Mark Bosnich's penalty heroics for Villa in 1994:

Dean Smith revealed that he had his side practicing penalties weeks ahead of the game with Albion in anticipation of a shoot-out.

Bosnich believes that practice will have been a great help to Steer, despite not being able to fully replicate the pressure put on players at the spot.

"I completely believe in that." He said.

"A lot of people say say the opposite but I can only go off my own experience.

"Dwight Yorke and myself used to do between 10 and 20 penalties pretty much every day. Maybe not the day before the game, but in the rest of the week pretty much between 10 and 20 at the end of training.

"A lot of people say you can't recreate it. No, you can't, but ask golfers whether they can recreate when you've got to reach the green on the 18th tee at the Masters. You can't recreate that either.

"All you can do is the best thing possible which is to practice your stroke continually. Same with penalties, just practice as much as you possibly can to make sure it becomes sense of nature."

Villa take on Frank Lampard's Derby at Wembley, with the Rams having pulled off a shock turnaround in their second leg clash with Leeds United.

Trailing 1-0 after their first-leg defeat, Derby won 4-2 at Elland Road in a stunning second half showing - a result which Bosnich feels could work in Villa's favour, having beaten Derby convincingly in each of their meetings through the season.

"Frank Lampard's an ex-teammate of mine, I don't wish him bad at all. But Aston Villa's in my heart and I really want them to go through." he said.

"After that controversy with Bielsa and Leeds when they let Villa score, I had visions of them beating us at Wembley.

"But when they got knocked out I was thinking that this is our year. When that happened I thought this is a real opportunity.

"They [Villa] have done a great job, they went on that 10-match winning run, that was absolutely phenomenal.

"They steadied up a little bit towards the end of the season, but even when they were 1-0 down against West Brom in the first leg I thought they were looking the goods.

"Obviously it helped with Dwight Gayle getting sent off and so forth, and penalties are penalties - it's not as if you've flown through.

"But sometimes it's better to be lucky than good, and you saw last season as good as they were, they didn't have the luck in the final, so let's hope a little bit of luck is deservedly coming Aston Villa's way."