Aston Villa 2-0 West Bromwich Albion: Fabian Delph and Scott Sinclair send Villa into semi-final amid pitch invasions

Fabian Delph scored the only goal as Aston Villa inflicted upon 10-man West Bromwich Albion a second defeat in a week to reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

Delph struck his first goal of the season after 50 minutes and after referee Anthony Taylor sent off Claudio Yacob for a second booking Scott Sinclair netted a beautifully crafted second to confirm the three-time winners' place in the last four.

Tony Pulis' side created several golden chances throughout the 90 minutes with Brown Ideye and Joleon Lescott among those guilty of missing the chance to send West Brom into a first semi-final since 2008.

Despite securing Sherwood's second win as Villa boss, the win was marred first by Jack Grealish's stoppage time dismissal for diving and then a series of pitch invasions, including during the final minutes of the game which will likely see the club reprimanded by The Football Association.

A midlands derby with rich cup history, with both sides having clashed in three finals in the 19<sup>th century, followed less than a week after the pair's Premier League meeting, where Christian Benteke's stoppage time penalty secure Sherwood's first win as manager

The Belgian was unavailable for the second visit of West Brom is the space of five days but the Baggies were suffering no such shortage of goal-threat, with top scorer Saido Berahino and Brown Ideye leading their attack.

Both forwards had glorious early openings to give West Brom an early lead as first Shay Given stopped Berahino before Ideye blazed over from point blank range after Craig Gardner's threaded pass.

Given was called upon on two further occasions when Ideye's weak header was easily saved before Chris Brunt looped shot was turned over by the former Republic of Ireland international.

But those early chances were replaced by an edgy remainder to the first half, with Villa in particular failing to create any meaningful chances with not a single shot on goal coming in the first 45 minutes from the hosts.

However, it took just five minutes of the second period for Villa to rediscover the vigour of their mid-week win and took the lead after a thrusting from Charles N'Zogbia ended as Fabian Delph thrashed the ball low past Boaz Myhill.

West Brom were unrelenting in their pursuit of a goal however and Joleon Lescott should have buried a backpost header from Gardner's corner before Given was forced to block Berhaino's shot after being played through by Ideye.

As West Brom continued to pile forward in search of a leveller holes began to appear and but Kieren Westwood's effort was blocked by Craig Dawson's despairing block.

Hopes of a late Baggies revival were dashed in the space of five second half minutes as Yacob was booked for a second time after a coming together with substitute Leandro Bacuna before Sinclair ran clear and curled home to send Villa into the semi-final.