If Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert isn't regretting leaving Norwich City last summer then he ought to be. He has had troubled times at Villa Park since his move and experiments in bringi9ng in younger players haven't quite worked, they did look to regain some prestige in the League Cup but a battling Yorkshire side from Bradford made sure that over two legs they would become the first ever fourth tie side to reach a Wembley final in that competition.
So it was vitally important that the Birmingham club made sure that they would be included in the fifth round draw this Sunday in the FA Cup and with the match shown on live television it was even more important that they took (at least) a draw from this game. Lambert rested key players and with no Stephen Ireland or Gabriel Agbonlahor not in the starting eleven and hot-shot Christian Bentake not even on the substitutes bench - perhaps taking into account there fixture with Newcastle United next Tuesday.
With Villa's terrible season which sees them in the bottom three of the Premiership it was no surprise that Millwall won this tie and will now look for a plump fixture in found five and I am sure that many bookies would have placed the home team as favourites. However it was the visitors who took the lead through Darren Bent but the Lions staged an expected comeback and were soon level via defender Danny Shittu before John Marquis headed home a last-gasp winner at the death.
The visitors played like a team under pressure and at times looked nervy in possession with long hopeful and untimely balls sent agonizingly up field as though they had selected eleven Sunday league players to face there opposition, but they seemed to shake off any bad press published about them when Bent took the lead for Villa on 22nd minute; Fabian Delph robbed Liam Feeney of the ball, finding Andreas Weimann in space who forced a save from Lions stopper David Forde but he could only parry with Bent waiting to execute his finish.
There lead last just five minutes as James Henry's corner floated to Shittu at the rear post and yet again Villa had conceded from a set piece as there defence went to pot and Millwall found a way past the veteran Shay Given to level the scores. The scores remained level until the break but Villa once again showed lapse in confidence, particularly at set-pieces were the hosts tested their reserve under pressure and Feeney come very close when he fired wide following a corner before the game was stopped after home supporters (on the hour mark) caused a disturbance in the corner of the Dockers Stand, which led to bottles being thrown onto the pitch after referee Mark Scholes had given Villa a free-kick.
Following the resumption of play Barry Bannan tested Forde's resilience with a timed shot that the keeper pushed away to safety. The game looked all set for a reply at Villa Park ten days later which I am sure that under the circumstance that the Villa faithful would have accepted and been relieved to hear the referee's whistle blow full-time with the scores level but that wasn't in the script and this tie would be settled on the day when Marquis pounced first to head home his 'easiest' goal of his career after Adam Smith's header crashed against the cross-bar with Marquis an empty goal to aim at.
Some sympathy can be given to the Villa team, any other day and that header would have either been cleared to safety or bounced off the bar and out for a goal kick but much is Villa's 'luck' this season that it would only unleash to there demise and once again add pressure on Lambert's shoulders who surely can only feel time on his job and Villa's chances of relegation safety battle falling by the waistline game by game.