Crystal Palace bowed out of the FA Cup after a valiant effort at Villa Park, as two second half penalties from John Carew and a 42nd minute strike by Gabriel Agbonlahor cancelled out Darren Ambrose's 72nd minute penalty to give them a 3-1 win. .
As expected Villa quickly set out to make home advantage count in the first half and applied the pressure from the start, although with the noise the Palace fans were making you would have been forgiven in thinking it was the Eagles playing on home soil.
Ashley Young showed that he can add substance to his abundance of tricks and stepovers when he played in a delightful ball to John Carew on eight minutes. Similar to his effort in the first leg he had his back to goal and had to get a shot away quickly, this time he flicked the cross goalwards and Speroni gathered comfortably.
What Palace didn't need was to give away an early goal to make the tie all the more difficult, which they almost did on 16 minutes when Alan Lee was dispossessed in his own half by Gabriel Agbonlahor who turned and bore down on goal. With only Speroni to beat he tried to shoot across the Palace keeper but it was tame and needed a simple save.
Young then forced Speroni into an unexpected save on 20 minutes when his cross curled dangerously close to goal and needed a cautionary tip over by the Argentine
The home side continued to apply the pressure but much of their attacking play was suffocated by the unwillingness to shoot, with the perfect example arriving on 23 minutes when first Agbonlahor refused to shoot, then Milner, until it eventually found Carew and his shot was parried by Speroni
But Villa's best chance of the half came when Stephen Warnock was played in behind Clyne, and with the easiest of balls across to Carew needed, the former Liverpool man played it too far ahead of the striker and out of play.
Referee Martin Atkinson was called into making two penalty decisions at either end, and both he appeared to get right.
The first came when Agbonlahor managed to get the wrong side of Claude Davis and went to ground, but the referee waved the appeals away immediately.
And the second was up the other end when Neil Danns went down under a challenge in the box, but again it was a simple decision for Atkinson.
But Villa were rewarded for their pressure on 42 minutes when a corner in from the left found Agbonlahor, who stooped low to head across goal and inside the far post.
Some nice Palace build play almost brought about a perfect ending when Nick Carle a fired first time with a left footed strike 20 yards out that fizzed just wide to mark the final effort of the half.
In the second period the Eagles came out strongly, and for large spells in the half completely outplayed the Premier League outfit.
On 53 minutes Ambrose aimed a 25 yard effort straight at the keeper, before then causing serious problems in the Villa defence with a vicious free kick from the left wing. The ball was eventually cleared by Carlos Cuellar, but there did appear to be the use of a Villa hand in there, which neither linesman nor referee saw.
But as Palace pushed forward the counter attacking move that has proven such an issue over the past few weeks threatened to surface once again when a speculative long ball up field dropped into the path of Agbonlahor.
One on one again with Speroni the England forward again hit his effort straight at the Palace keeper.
Ambrose, who was Palace's main threat throughout, forced another tricky save out of Guzan when he aimed a low dipping effort straight down his throat, while Young did the exact same the other end when his curling right footed effort forced Speroni to palm away.
Palace though got their reward on 73 minutes when an Ertl flick on was latched on to by Lee in the box and the big centre forward was scythed down by Warnock.
The referee had no option but to point at the penalty spot and Ambrose stepped up to take it.
In front of the Palace end Ambrose calmly sent Guzan the wrong way to send the Eagles following into raptures.
As was expected the home side came back straight away, and they should have had their lead back when Carew somehow sent the ball over the bar from five yards out.
Ten minutes from time though it was heartbreak for Palace as Carew backed into Lawrence inside the box, and as the Palace defender tried to make the challenge he dragged him down for another easy decision for Atkinson.
Carew stepped up to take it and elected to smash it down the middle as Speroni dived to his left.
In the dying minutes Villa managed to extend their lead with another penalty, and again it was Lawrence with, this time, a completely inexcusable challenge on Carew inside the box.
The Villa centre forward was going nowhere, but Lawrence bundled him over right infront of the referee.
Carew stepped up again and made it 3-1 with a strike to Speroni's right.
There are two changes from the weekend. Clint Hill and Sean Scannell drop to the bench, while Neil Danns and Danny Butterfield start.
Crystal Palace: 1. Julian Speroni, 2. Nathaniel Clyne, 4. Shaun Derry, 7. Darren Ambrose, 8. Neil Danns (21. Kieran Djilali, 90), 10. Nick Carle (28. James Comley, 83), 17. Matt Lawrence, 19. Alan Lee (18. Calvin Andrew, 90), 20. Danny Butterfield, 22. Johnny Ertl, 24. Claude Davis
Subs: 3. Clint Hill, 14. Sean Scannell, 33. Alassane N'Diaye, 35. Charlie Mann
Aston Villa: 22. Brad Guzan, 2. Luke Young, 5. Richard Dunne, 6. Stewart Downing, 7. Ashley Young, 8. James Milner, 10. John Carew, 11. Gabriel Agbonlahor, 16. Fabian Delph, 24. Carlos Cuellar, 25. Stephen Warnock
Subs: 1. Brad Friedel, 4. Steve Sidwell, 14. Nathan Delfouneso, 15. Curtis Davies, 18. Emile Heskey, 23. Habib Beye, 29. James Collins
You can watch tonight's game live on the FA website by clicking here.
