Samaras stars as Man City dump Villa out of Cup - March 15, 2006
Manchester City have knocked Aston Villa out of the FA Cup after winning last night's replay 2-1.
Goals from Georgios Samaras and Darius Vassell swept City into the FA Cup quarter-finals and a tie against either Bolton Wanderers or West Ham.
Samaras single-handedly unravelled the Villa defence on 17 minutes, scoring at the second attempt to put City ahead.
Ex-Villa forward Vassell picked up the striking baton for City on 48 minutes, turning the ball home after a scramble.
With five minutes left, Steve Davis' well-worked goal set up a tense finale, but it proved too little, too late.
City had forced a replay with a stoppage-time goal from Micah Richards, but their defence proved more adept at closing out a game than Villa's had back in February.
And Samaras showed that if he is capable of taking goals - he has now scored four since joining City for £6m in the January transfer window - he is equally capable of making them as well.
When he picked up the ball wide on the wing, there appeared little danger to the Villa defence.
But he cleverly flicked the ball past Olof Mellberg and raced into the Villa penalty area before getting in a shot that Sorensen was unable to hold.
The ball rebounded to the Greek, who rattled the ball into the net before wheeling away to celebrate.
Soon after breaking the deadlock, Samaras was the victim of an ugly challenge from Liam Ridgewell, who raked his studs down the striker's back.
Having survived that challenge, Samaras was withdrawn at the interval after coming off the worst following a tackle from Gareth Barry.
Manchester City have knocked Aston Villa out of the FA Cup after winning last night's replay 2-1.
Goals from Georgios Samaras and Darius Vassell swept City into the FA Cup quarter-finals and a tie against either Bolton Wanderers or West Ham.
Samaras single-handedly unravelled the Villa defence on 17 minutes, scoring at the second attempt to put City ahead.
Ex-Villa forward Vassell picked up the striking baton for City on 48 minutes, turning the ball home after a scramble.
With five minutes left, Steve Davis' well-worked goal set up a tense finale, but it proved too little, too late.
City had forced a replay with a stoppage-time goal from Micah Richards, but their defence proved more adept at closing out a game than Villa's had back in February.
And Samaras showed that if he is capable of taking goals - he has now scored four since joining City for £6m in the January transfer window - he is equally capable of making them as well.
When he picked up the ball wide on the wing, there appeared little danger to the Villa defence.
But he cleverly flicked the ball past Olof Mellberg and raced into the Villa penalty area before getting in a shot that Sorensen was unable to hold.
The ball rebounded to the Greek, who rattled the ball into the net before wheeling away to celebrate.
Soon after breaking the deadlock, Samaras was the victim of an ugly challenge from Liam Ridgewell, who raked his studs down the striker's back.
Having survived that challenge, Samaras was withdrawn at the interval after coming off the worst following a tackle from Gareth Barry.
