Aston Villa prevail in Midlands derby to reach FA Cup semi-finals

Aston Villa players and fans celebrate after Fabian Delph opened the scoring. Carl Recine / Reuters

Fabian Delph’s first goal in a year helped fire Aston Villa to Wembley as they beat West Brom 2-0 to reach the FA Cup semi-finals.

The stand-in captain scored for the first time since March 2014 as Villa became the first side to bank a last-four spot.

Scott Sinclair grabbed a late second after Claudio Yacob was controversially sent off with 10 minutes left and Villa substitute Jack Grealish was also dismissed in stoppage time, picking up a second yellow card for diving.

But the win was marred by ugly scenes that saw seats thrown from the West Brom fans towards the Villa supporters.

Giant-killers Bradford City’s progress in the FA Cup was suspended at the quarter-final stage after they were held to a 0-0 draw by Championship side Reading.

Third-tier Bradford memorably came from 2-0 down to win 4-2 at Chelsea in the fourth round before eliminating Sunderland in round five, but they were taken to a replay by Reading on a muddy Valley Parade pitch.

Bradford coach Phil Parkinson said: “We have to give Reading credit. They came here and made it very difficult with the extra man in midfield, but I thought our lads did excellent. They were very professional and made sure we stayed in the game.”

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