Midfield man Brian Howard was left to rue a very classy second half display from Aston Villa as the Premier League side turned our FA Cup quarter final on its head on Sunday.

We led 2-0 at the break but three goals in ten minutes put Villa in the ascendancy and booked their semi-final place with Chelsea.

He said, "It was very very disappointing, but we got punished by a top team who had four shots and four goals. We just wanted to keep it tight for ten or fifteen minutes and see the game out but we didn't do it and got punished. I've lost at Wembley two years in a row anyway, so it's not all it's cracked up to be!

"It's been a good cup run, so you can take the positive from it and now we need to take it into the league on Wednesday night. We have three home games in a week so it's massively important that we forget about the disappointment in the cup and pull ourselves away from the bottom half of the table.

"I thought we were the better side in the first half, we fully deserved the 2-0 and maybe could have had a one or two more. But then we came out second half and they showed their class and we've been punished.

"There were still chances in the second half so we have to take the positives from that. We were still creating chances even after going 3-2 behind, we showed good character and could have got something out the game. It wasn't meant to be, we wish them all the best and we'll look onto the league."

Howard came off on the hour mark, and revealed that it was a pre-determined change. "I've had an illness the last couple of days so I said to Brian that I wouldn't have much energy and after 60 minutes I'd come off for Bryn. I was hoping that it would be at 2-0 up but it wasn't to be."

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