Aston Villa 1-0 Southampton

He might be bad at penalties, but Gareth Southgate has scored again from open play to hand Aston Villa victory over Southampton in the FA Cup.

The England defender - reknowned for his poor scoring record - bagged two goals last week as Villa cruised to a 2-0 victory over Premiership leaders Leeds.

Speaking after the match, Southgate said: "They're like red buses I suppose. Nothing, then three come along at once."

His goalscoring exploits will not have gone unnoticed by England coach Kevin Keegan, who was there to see the game.

The Villa captain converted Ugo Ehiogu's header from Paul Merson's deep free kick on 20 minutes to hand Saints a second Cup exit.

John Gregory's men have already knocked Southampton out of the Worthington Cup this season by a 4-0 margin.

The home side were by far the livelier throughout and were unlucky not to go further ahead with Julian Joachim going very close twice and Benito Carbone forcing a save with a curling free-kick.

Multiple misses

By contrast, Saints failed to land a shot on target and were lucky not to concede an embarrassing scoreline as keeper Paul Jones went into overdrive.

They were clearly missing the mobility of injured central defender Dean Richards, with Claus Lundekvam failing to lend the same authority at the back.

In fact, the defender earned himself a yellow card for hanging off Joachim's shirt and Southgate scored from the ensuing free-kick.

By contrast, Villa's midfield duo Ian Taylor and George Boateng provided a steady wall that Southampton signally failed to breach.

Prior to Southgate's heroics, Joachim headed the ball inches wide off a Steve Watson cross on nine minutes.

Carbone contributed to the growing catalogue of near-misses with a 20-yard belter that grazed the upright.

But perhaps the worst blunder of the day belonged to defender Alan Wright who was handed an open goal by Carbone and screwed the shot over the bar.

The second half was a similar story of near-total Villa dominance, interspersed with some fine saves in the Saints goal and some questionable striking by the home side.

Gregory's men deserved their win, but a better opposition would have perhaps punished them on the quick break.

Teams:

Aston Villa: James, Ehiogu, Southgate, Barry, Watson, Taylor, Boateng, Merson, Wright, Carbone, Joachim. Subs: Hendrie, Ghrayib, Vassell, Stone, Cutler.

Southampton: Jones, Tessem, Benali, Lundekvam, Bridge, Ripley, Dodd, Marsden, Boa Morte, Davies, Pahars. Subs: Hughes, Colleter, Kachloul, Soltvedt, Moss.

Referee: N Barry (Scunthorpe)