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