FA Cup: Preston 0 Aston Villa 3 - report

To a schedule already containing a Champions League quarter-final and several key Premier League fixtures can now be added a trip to Wembley for an FA Cup semi-final.

Marcus Rashford’s first goals for the club ensured Unai Emery’s team did not slip on a Preston-shaped banana skin in Sunday’s quarter-final at Deepdale.

The Manchester United loanee scored twice in the space of five second half minutes as Villa finally wrestled control of a tie which for much of the first hour threatened to be tricky, with Jacob Ramsey then driving home a third.

By then the party had already started for 5,600 travelling supporters, each of whom will now believe the club’s 29-year trophy drought might finally be brought to an end. The FA Cup surely represents Villa’s greatest opportunity. Of those teams remaining in the competition, they should fear no-one.

Rashford’s goals continued his own resurgence since arriving on loan from United, albeit he and the rest of the visiting attack were sluggish in a first half where the best chance fell to Preston’s Stefan Thordarson. 

The latter headed weakly wide when he looked certain to score, yet it was the only time in the 90 minutes Villa were troubled and after the break they were ruthless, ripping any hope from their Championship hosts with all three goals coming in the space of 13 minutes.

Rashford got things started when he converted Ramsey’s cross, before firing home from the spot when Morgan Rogers was tripped by Andrew Hughes.

Ramsey killed off any hope of an unlikely comeback and by the finish 3-0 flattered a Preston team who battled hard but lacked the quality to hurt their visitors. Emery, who brought Ollie Watkins and Donyell Malen off the bench, has no shortage of the latter. 

There has been a definite sense of the stars aligning for Villa in this competition and Preston, already unable to field Villa right-back Kaine Kesler-Hayden against his parent club, were dealt another blow when it emerged first-choice goalkeeper Freddie Woodman had suffered a season-ending ankle injury in the build-up.

That meant just a seventh Lilywhites appearance in more than two-and-a-half years for back-up Dai Cornell but he was rarely tested in the first half as Villa pushed and probed without conviction.

Villa began nervously and the sold-out home crowd were quickly on their feet when an over-hit Lucas Digne pass escaped Youri Tielemans and Will Keane went down in the box. Referee Chris Kavanagh waved away penalty appeals but the scene was set for a sketchy first half in which the visitors dominated possession, without creating clear-cut chances.

Cornell’s only real work of the first half saw him deal with a Rashford free-kick which had power but lacked the direction to seriously trouble the keeper.

Ezri Konsa should have given him something to worry about when he rose to meet a viciously whipped in Marco Asensio cross but the defender ended up making no contact. Another promising move ended when Rogers’ cross, intended for Rashford, was cleared behind. Konsa also sent a difficult headed chance over the bar from a Rashford corner.

Yet for all of Villa’s possession, it was the home side who carved out the best opening of the half and in truth it should have been taken. Robbie Brady found the space to deliver an inswinging cross which Martinez could only palm away and when Mads Frokjaer nodded the ball back into the danger zone, Thordarson looked to have the simple task of finishing. But he failed to even hit the target, instead cushioning his header well wide.

Preston pushed higher up the pitch at the start of the second half but that left space in behind and Villa finally carved out a clear-cut chance. Rogers won possession on halfway and raced toward the home goal before playing the pass through to Rashford. Poor control from the latter inadvertently set up a one-on-one with Cornell but he was unable to squeeze the finish underneath the keeper.

Yet 13 minutes after the restart he made no mistake to put Villa ahead. Jacob Ramsey played a big part in the move, advancing into the Preston half and picking out the run of Digne down the left. The latter squared the ball first time for Rashford to send a side-footed beyond Cornell.

Now all the noise was coming from the supporters behind the goal at the opposite end of the pitch and soon they and Rashford had further reason to celebrate.

In truth, the forward should have been provider, rather than the scorer of Villa’s second but Ramsey failed to make clean contact on his cross, before Rogers saw his effort blocked on the line by Jayden Meghoma. 

But seconds later Rogers tumbled to the turf after being caught by the boot of Andrew Hughes. Rashford, after a stutter step, sent Cornell the wrong way from the spot and in the space of five minutes Villa had wrestled control of the tie.

Rogers had the chance to kill it off completely when a Rashford pass set him through on goal but Cornell was out quickly to save on the angle. It proved only a brief respite for the hosts, Ramsey finishing off a powerful run with a thumping finish from the edge of the box to cap his own impressive display.

Ollie Watkins replaced Rashford off the bench and sent two glorious chances wide in his first two minutes on the pitch.

Preston (3-5-2): Cornell, Storey, Gibson, Hughes, Brady, Thordarson (Carroll 83), Whiteman, Frokjaer (Mawene 83), Meghoma (Lindsay 77), Keane (Osmajic 64), Riis (Evans 77) Subs not used: Bauer, Pasiek, Tarry, Stowell (gk).

Villa (4-2-3-1): Martinez, Cash (Garcia 81), Konsa, Mings, Digne, Kamara, Tielemans (Onana 72), Rogers (McGinn 72), Asensio (Malen 72), Ramsey, Rashford (Watkins 81) Subs not used: Bogarde, Maatsen, Torres, Olsen (gk).