Villa Youth Can Hold Heads High

Well done to the Villa Youth!

Went to the highly entertaining semi final between Villa and Chelsea and although we ended up on the wrong side of a 3-2 score I thought the lads did us proud.

I thought Harry Forrester was very bright for Villa and bagged a brace, our number 8 was also very lively. It was also easy to see why Delfouneso is being tipped to push his way into the full squad although I'm going to have to call him the Fonz as I have no idea how to pronounce his name properly!

There were a few bright sparks in the team and although they'll be gutted to go out, especially to a team who echoed many Premiership teams with histrionics and diving - not taking away from a few very good players, their number 11 stood out - they can still be proud of their performance and hold their heads up, they let not one of the 10 000 strong crowd tonight and I'm sure we'll see far more of a few of them. If not for the odd slice of luck, the result could have gone our way just as easily.

Villa official site report: Click Here

Chelsea official site report: Click Here

VILLA: Parish, Bradley (booked 40), Baker, Roome (sent-off 90), Clark, Hofbauer, Albrightobn, Bannan, Delfouneso, Collins, Forrester. Subs: Clancy, Dau, Weimann (for Collins 74), Grocott, Flanagan.

Chelsea: Taylor, Twumasi, Bruma booked 84), Mellis, Van Aanholt, Woods, Stoch, Sawyer (sent-off 80), Nielsen, Rodriguez, Kakuta. Subs: Phillip (for Woods 68), Heimann, Taiwo )for Neilsen 81), Nouble, Gordon (for Mellis 48).

Tony McAndrew said after the game on the official site: 'I think the lads did the whole club proud. They've been fantastic all season and I'm bitterly disappointed for them. The second-half performance was really encouraging. We said at half-time that we didn't want to go out with a whimper. We didn't do that. We played some great stuff and I think we were unlucky to go down 3-2.' Adding, 'Losing is a part of football you have to come to terms with. It's a terrible feeling when you lose games - we need to remember that and make sure we don't feel that way too often. The winning feeling is what it's all about. But as we say all the time, this is about learning. It's a learning curve for our young players. I think the crowd saw just how much this meant to the players.'

Oh and a quick note to the classless idiots in the Chelsea team who took their tops off and whirled them around in front of the Holte End. Carry on doing that lads and you'll get nowhere in football. Maybe it is indicative of the creeping lack of respect in the modern game but in days gone by their own managers would have given them almight rollickings in the dressing room. Still, the way they've been assembled and poached and bought shows a total lack of class anyway, so why should we be surprised. Respect is a word a good few of them would do well to learn the meaning of.

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.

Join the Vital Fantasy Football League - its Free!