CC: Wrexham v Aston Villa (28.08)

[Mighty T.A.L.]

Aston Villa are expected to name a strong starting line-up as they face League Two Wrexham in the Carling Cup second round.

Villa have a proud record in the League Cup having won the competition five times, with only Liverpool more successful.

Martin O'Neill, himself a two-time winner whilst in charge of Leicester, seems intent on taking the cup seriously again.

Villa strength

Villa will field a strong XI, but O'Neill is likely to make changes from the side which beat Fulham at the weekend.

Saturday's match-winner Shaun Maloney will be hoping for a start in attack - but Marlon Harewood and Luke Moore will also be looking to feature from the start.

Gary Cahill could also come into contention at the back.

Wrexham are coming into the game off the back of a 2-1 defeat at Bradford and boss Brian Carey is set to make changes.

Welsh internationals Steve Evans and Mark Jones, who were both on the bench at Valley Parade, are expected to come into the starting line-up.

Youngster Michael Jones is expected to start in goal with Anthony Williams rested, but new signing Silvio Spann will not be risked even if his international clearance arrives in time for him to play.

Hope for boss

Carey is hoping his Dragons side could provide an upset.

"It's an opportunity for the players to show what they can do," he said.

"It would be great to give the fans another fantastic occasion to remember.

"They still talk about us beating Arsenal in the FA Cup and my team now have the chance to create their own little bit of history."

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[andy villa]

no games are easy....

i expect a battling performance from wrexham and hopefully, we wont take them lightly...

[andy villa]

comfortable win for us in the end of a professional performance...

few changes to the team and maloney and osbourne did well....

nice to see a few players get off the mark with goals...

think the scoreline flattered us a little, and wrexham caused us a few problems, but we were professional and played to the end and ran out deserved winners...

[Mighty T.A.L.]

Villa ease past Wrexham

Aston Villa comfortably sealed their passage into the third round of the Carling Cup with a 5-0 win over League Two side Wrexham.

Shaun Maloney curled home a shot into the bottom corner on 30 minutes at The Racecourse Ground to take the visitors in at half-time ahead.

Wrexham began the second-half brightly but quick goals from Luke Moore and Nigel Reo-Coker killed off The Dragons' chances.

Moore headed Gareth Barry's free-kick past Michael Jones in the 52nd minute before Reo-Coker added a third ten minutes later.

Maloney fired in his second from range and Marlon Harewood wrapped up the scoring with his first goal for Villa with 12 minutes remaining.

The impressive Maloney had served notice of his intentions down the left from the very first minute, when he screwed a free-kick over Jones' bar.

Steve Evans just failed get a touch onto Chris Llewellyn's deflected free-kick at the other end before Gareth Barry played in Maloney and his curling shot beat Jones.

Villa almost went further ahead in the 39th minute when Gabriel Agbonlahor crossed low from the right and Harewood was inches from connecting in front of goal.

But Brian Carey's men were still in the tie and within seconds of the restart Michael Proctor's clever-lay off sent Eifion Williams racing clear only for Stuart aylor to parry his shot.

In the 49th minute the home side came even closer to equalising, when Williams crossed for Llewellyn, whose shot on the turn was scrabbled out for a corner by the Villa keeper.

It was the home side's last chance as Villa responded by turning on the style, with Harewood clattering the base of Jones' left-hand post with a long-range effort.

Then Barry dropped a free-kick from the right flank perfectly onto the head of Moore, whose lofted effort beat Jones and sailed into the top corner.

Villa grabbed their third when Harewood sent through Reo-Coker, who capitalised on a mistake by Shaun Pejic to slide the ball past Jones.

And with the visitors now threatening to score almost at will, Agbonlahor breezed clean through and was only denied when Jones bravely dived at his feet.

Maloney grabbed his own slightly fortunate second in the 71st minute when he struck a long-range effort that caught out Jones and bounced into the net for Villa's fourth.

And there was to be no respite for the dejected home side, who conceded their fifth in the 79th minute when Harewood swept home at close range from Maloney's corner.

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