Carayol’s Rovers crash out of the FA Cup

Goals from Marc Albrighton, England striker Gabby Abonglahor and Ciaran Clark gave Aston Villa a comfortable passage to the fourth round of the FA Cup in front of a full-house crowd at the Memorial Stadium of Mustapha Carayol’s Bristol Rovers.

Though Scott McGleish grabbed a late consolation for the Gas, he also saw a stoppage-time penalty saved by Villa keeper Brad Guzan.

Albrighton broke the Pirates’ resistance 10 minutes before the break, latching on to a superb pass from Villa skipper Stiliyan Petrov before firing a low shot through the legs of keeper Martin Poke.

Agbonlahor, introduced at the break in place of Emile Heskey, capitalised on a mistake by Cian Bolger to break clear and fire home Villa’s second and Ciaran Clark added the third 12 minutes from time when he waltzed past three Rovers players before shooting into the bottom corner.

Though Rovers defended doggedly at times and gave a decent enough account of themselves before the break, they were rarely able to trouble the Premier League side - especially in the second half, when Villa were able to cruise through large parts of the game with the Pirates sitting deep.

Shorn of their leading scorer Matt Harrold because of an ankle problem, the home side lacked menace up front and suffered another blow just before the half-hour when they saw Mustapha Carayol forced off. Though Chris Zebroski forced Villa keeper Guzan into a couple of saves before the break, Rovers offered little attacking threat in the second half until the closing stages.

Though Rovers were combative for spells either side of half time and provided caretaker boss Shaun North with suitable encouragement, in the end, all they had to show for their troubles was an 88th minute consolation from Scott McGleish.

Then Stephen Warnock was penalised for hand ball in stoppage time. But any hopes of an improbable late comeback were scuppered when Guzan dived to his left to save McGleish’s spot-kick attempt.

In the final seconds, Michael Poke dived low to his right to claw away Gary Garner’s low shot and prevent Villa re-establishing their three-goal cushion.

Without a league win since late October and having dispensed with manager Paul Buckle in midweek after four successive defeats in which they had conceded 14 times, Rovers were not only glad to see the back of 2011, but equally delighted for a distraction, of sorts.

Still, with confidence having plummeted to an all-time low and relegation from the Football League certainly not beyond the realms of possibility, the visit of a side whose previous away game, at Chelsea, had yielded three points, was, to say the least, a little daunting.

Carayol’s Rovers now need to take heart from their performance and concentrate on the league, with a massive game away to Hereford coming up on Tuesday night.