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Given's brilliance and Sherwood's half-time talk inspire Villa to victory

The new manager watched from the stands as his side advanced to the FA Cup quarter-final after a 2-1 win over The Foxes.

Britain Soccer FA Cup AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

A HALF-TIME rallying cry from new manager Tim Sherwood inspired Aston Villa to beat Premier League rivals Leicester City 2-1 on Sunday and reach the FA Cup quarter-finals.

Leicester enjoyed the best of the first half at Villa Park, with Marcin Wasilewski’s header grazing the post and Matty James forcing Shay Given into a sensational one-handed save.
https://vine.co/v/OP0QiqilwZz

But Sherwood, watching from the stands after being appointed as the successor to Paul Lambert on Saturday, made a visit to the home changing room at the interval and Villa were a different team in the second period.

After Christian Benteke had twice gone close, Leandro Bacuna broke the deadlock in the 68th minute when he collected a pass from Ron Vlaar, cut inside Danny Simpson and curled a shot around Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer from 18 yards.

A terrible blunder from the veteran Schwarzer, who allowed a tame shot from Villa substitute Scott Sinclair to squirm past him, saw the home side double their lead in the 89th minute.

Andrej Kramaric replied for Leicester with a magnificent header in the first minute of stoppage time, but it was too little, too late.

Irish goalkeeper Given, making only his fourth appearance for Villa this season, put in a man-of-the-match performance.

And check out this superb tackle from Ireland and Villa defender Ciaran Clark:
https://vine.co/v/OPVmYiJ7WW3

© AFP 2014

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