Villa sneak past Royals

Delaney was stretchered off with a neck injury

Aston Villa 1-0 Reading

Dion Dublin scored a vital first half injury-time goal to put Aston Villa into the last 16 of the Worthington Cup.

Villa, five-time winners of the trophy, were made to work hard for the win against one of the Second Division's promotion contenders.

The only worry for Villa was the sight of Mark Delaney being carried off on a stretcher with his neck in a brace.

We lacked fluency in our play and it was a fairly dull performance

John Gregory

The Welsh international received an accidental knock to the head when he challenged Tony Rougier midway through the second half.

The only change to the Villa line-up saw Frenchman David Ginola brought in for Darius Vassel and the long-haired winger struck up a rapport with Colombian striker Juan Pablo Angel.

Reading, who knocked West Ham out of the competition on penalties in the last round, were content to hit Villa on the break.

Indeed, Alan Pardew's men had claims for an early penalty waived away by referee Matt Messias as Rougier went down under a challenge from Delaney on a skiddy surface.

Delaney's injury forced Villa into changes with Dublin coming into attack, Ginola moving out to the left and Mustapha Hadji switching to full-back.

Former Birmingham star Nicky Forster had the best early chance for Reading when he got ahead of Alan Wright and saw his low angled drive skid past Peter Schmeichel.

But after an even first half, the Royals fell behind just before the break.

I thought the players did excellently, I hope to take that into Saturday

Alan Pardew

Ginola sent over a corner, Hassan Kachloul put the ball back into the six-yard box and Dublin headed past Phil Whitehead from close range.

Dublin should have made it 2-0 when he shot straight at Whitehead from no more than six yards as the match moved into the final 10 minutes.

Steve Staunton was on hand to hack clear from under his goal as the determined visitors poured forward in vain for an equaliser.

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Aston Villa: Schmeichel, Delaney, Alpay, Staunton, Wright, Hadji, Boateng, Hendrie, Kachloul, Angel, Ginola. Subs: Dublin, Enckelman, Barry, Balaban, Cooke.

Reading: Whitehead, Whitbread, Viveash, Williams, Shorey, Forster, Harper, Parkinson, Neil Smith, Rougier, Butler. Subs: Robinson, Cureton, Casper, Ashdown, Henderson.

Referee: M Messias