Icy blast leaves Villa feeling blue

Roberto Mancini tries to hold off Gareth Barry

Aston Villa 1-2 Leicester

Substitute Arnar Gunnlaugsson gave Leicester victory over Aston Villa as both sides finished this ill-tempered FA Cup clash with 10 men.

The Icelandic international lashed a left-foot shot past David James with just six minutes left after Julian Joachim had given last year's finalists hope of a replay.

Ade Akinbiyi had put the visitors in front after Darius Vassell had been sent off for Villa.

I've been a little bit of a super-sub but I'm not sure I like that tag. It was nice to get the winner. It was one of my best goals ever

  Arnar Gunnlaugsson

Then Callum Davidson was given his marching orders in first-half injury time for a challenge on Steve Staunton that sparked a mini-brawl inside the Villa penalty area.

The tone for the game was set in the first five minutes when Vassell was booked for a late tackle on Gerry Taggart.

It was the first of many ill-timed challenges in a match devoid of any real quality.

Davidson quickly followed Vassell into referee Uriah Rennie's notebook for bringing down Ian Taylor before George Boateng left Davidson in a heap with another late lunge.

Then came Vassell's red card with just 34 minutes gone.

The Villa bench were upset at the decision but they will have few cause for complaints when they take a look at the video replay.

The England under-21 striker caught Andy Impey late and must have known he was facing an early bath.

Leicester's numerical advantage lasted just 11 minutes.

Davidson got his timing all wrong as he rose to challenge Staunton and only succeeded in flattening the Republic of Ireland international.

Vassell sees red

The incident sparked a mini-brawl inside the Villa penalty area, with players from both sides keen to make their presence felt as Rennie attempted to restore order.

When emotions had cooled, Davidson was called to one side and given his second booking of the afternoon.

It wasn't all red and yellow cards in the first half.

Akinbiyi burst down the left flank before cutting inside and firing a fierce shot straight at David James.

Then Vassell came close to breaking he deadlock with a header that thumped against the crossbar following a left-wing cross from Alan Wright.

James ended up in the crowd after racing towards the left touchline to clear a hopeful Leicester punt.

But he clearly showed no ill-effects by pulling off a decent stop to keep out Gary Rowett's near-post header moments later.

The stalemate finally ended on 41 minutes, when Akinbiyi made the most of his luck to put Leicester in front.

He won a 50-50 challenge with James just outside the Villa penalty area before slotting the ball into an empty net.

Paul Merson might have equalised before the half was out but saw his 14-yard volley fly inches wide of Simon Royce's right-hand post.

Both sides opted to make changes early on in the second half.

I thought both sendings-off were fair. The referee will get stick but they were both poor challenges

  Peter Taylor

Defender Phil Gilchrist replaced midfielder Matthew Jones for Leicester while the home side brought on striker Joachim for wing-back Wright.

And it was Joachim who proved the key substitution.

With 76 minutes on the clock, the former Leicester forward shrugged off the attentions of Taggart before steering a right-foot shot past a hapless Royce.

The game looked to be heading for a replay until another substitute, Gunnlaugsson, too centre stage.

With just six minutes left, the Icelander fired a left-foot shot past James off the underside of the crossbar.

Joachim had another chance to pull Villa level for a second time before missed the target with a close-range header from Staunton's free-kick.

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Teams:

Aston Villa: James, Barry, Staunton, Alpay, Wright, Taylor, Boateng, Stone, Merson, Angel, Vassell. Subs: Delaney, Dublin, Joachim, Hendrie, Enckelman.

Leicester: Royce, Rowett, Elliott, Taggart, Impey, Davidson, Delaney, Savage, Jones, Mancini, Akinbiyi. Subs: Price, Gilchrist, Guppy, Gunnlaugsson, Cresswell.

Referee: U Rennie (Sheffield).