Aston Villa 0-2 Bolton Wanderers

Posted: Tuesday 20th September 2011

Tags: Match Reports, Carling Cup, Aston Villa, Chris Eagles, Gael Kakuta

Bolton put their poor league form to one side as they advanced through to the last 16 of the Carling Cup with a 2-0 win at Aston Villa.

Chris Eagles and Gael Kakuta both struck after the break to ease Wanderers in to the next round, a result which was deserving of their performance as the Trotters recorded their first victory in four games.

Despite confidence being low after recent results, Bolton began surprisingly well at Villa Park and they created the first real chance of the game inside the opening ten minutes.

After getting the better of Alan Hutton, Eagles crossed low into the box and the ball fell to Kakuta, who saw a goalbound strike well blocked by Stephen Warnock.

Wanderers continued to press forward for the opening goal, with David Ngog next to try his luck. However, he could only find the gloves of Villa goalkeeper Shay Given with a strike from 30-yards.

Midway through the half, Nathan Delfouneso stole possession off David Wheater and crossed for Gabriel Agbonlahor, who could only succeed in sending his header well wide of the target.

In an attempt to make up for his mistake, Wheater found himself at the other end moments later, crashing a header against the post from an Eagles corner.

Although they had failed to create any meaningful chances in the opening 45 minutes, Villa had a superb chance to break the deadlock just before the break, only to be denied by Kakuta as he slid in to deny Stephen Warnock from close range.

Trotters boss Owen Coyle would have been encouraged by his team's performance in the first half and they came out all guns blazing after the restart, taking the lead on 54 minutes.

As he attempted to cut out a pass from the returning Stuart Holden, Marc Albrighton could only succeed in diverting the ball in to the path of Eagles, who slammed the ball past Given from the edge of the area for his first goal in Wanderers colours since his summer move from Burnley.

Moments later, Kakuta played a superb cross behind the Villa defence and Ngog was inches away from connecting and scoring what would surely have been a second goal.

At the other end, Agbonlahor failed to make contact on a cross from Barry Bannan as Villa looked to get themselves an equaliser and it was game over 13 minutes from time as Kakuta marked his debut with a goal.

Ricardo Gardner, who impressed at left-back, hit a long free-kick up to the Villa box and the ball bounced at the feet of Kakuta, who turned expertly before firing in to the back of the net.

James Collins forced Adam Bogdan into his first meaningful save of the night with five minutes to go, but it was the best that the hosts had to offer all night as Wanderers advanced through to the fourth round of the competition for the first time in two years.

Bolton return to Premier League action on Saturday afternoon, when they will make the trip to Arsenal's Emirates Stadium.

Aston Villa: Given, Hutton, Collins, Dunne, Warnock, Albrighton (N'Zogbia 73), Petrov, Ireland, Bannan, Agbonlahor, Delfouneso
Subs Not Used: Guzan, Delph, Beye, Lowry, Gardner, Burke
Booked: Bannan

Bolton Wanderers: Bogdan, Steinsson (Robinson 76), Cahill, Wheater, Gardner, Eagles, Holden, Muamba (M Davies 88), Pratley, Kakuta, Ngog (K Davies 73)
Subs Not Used: Jaaskelainen, Tuncay, Petrov, Blake
Booked: Cahill
Goals: Eagles 54, Kakuta 77

Referee: Darren Deadman
Attendance: 22,261