Aston Villa book Wembley date after 10-goal thriller

Aston Villa 6 Blackburn 4 (Villa win 7-4 on aggregate). The Carling Cup semi final between Aston Villa and Blackburn was always supposed to play second fiddle to the one between Manchester City and United - but the second leg turned that idea on its head as the sides enjoyed a 10-goal thriller.

In the end it was Villa who booked themselves a date at Wembley after a gloriously chaotic game that ended with a peaceful pitch invasion from the home fans.

Villa made a woeful start that saw them quickly surrender their one-goal advantage from the first leg before the fireworks really began. Blackburn were all over the Birmingham side from the outset and took the lead through a Nikola Kalinic header after just 10 minutes.

That left the scores level on aggregate and after 26 minutes Blackburn took the lead, again through Kalinic, who tapped home the ball after Brad Guzan saved Martin Olsson's shot.

But Villa were back in it soon after when Stephen Warnock headed home a cross from Ashley Young, despite what seemed like a push from Gabriel Agbonlahor in the box to take out defender Ryan Nelsen. A foul that left Sam Allardyce, the Blackburn manager, fuming.

There was worse to come for Rovers when Christopher Samba was sent off for bringing down Agbonlahor in the box as he bore down on goal. The red card and penalty were justified and James Milner levelled from the spot.

After half time Villa seemed to have finished Rovers off as Stven N'Zonzi deflected the ball into his own net from a corner, a Milner shot went in after apparently hitting Agbonlahor on the arm - again angering Allardyce - and Emile Heskey rounded Paul Robinson to make it five.

But Rovers weren't finished and Olssen responded immediately with a fantastic overhead kick to give Blackburn hope. A Brett Emerton's goal five minutes from time added to the excitement, but Villa made it safe when Young slotted home in injury time.

It was Villa's biggest game for a decade and when the final whistle sounded fans flooded onto the pitch to celebrate their team's success. Manager Martin O'Neill was incredulous. He said: "It was an amazing game. Once we scored one, I thought we could score again but never in my wildest dreams did I think it would end up 6-4. It was 6-4, wasn't it?" ·