Aston Villa beat 10-man West Brom to reach semi-finals

Aston Villa booked their place in the FA Cup semi-finals with a 2-0 win over local rivals West Brom that was marred by referee errors and a pitch invasion by the home fans at a boisterous Villa Park.

West Brom - beaten 2-1 at the same venue in the Premier League on Tuesday - paid a heavy price for failing to turn their first-half domination into goals as Fabian Delph produced a sparkling finish from Charles N'Zogbia's pass to sweep Tim Sherwood's side ahead on 51 minutes.

A horrid mistake by referee Anthony Taylor in deciding to red card Claudio Yacob on 80 minutes for a second yellow despite barely making contact the grounded Leandro Bacuna provided Villa with the space for their killer second goal five minutes later.

Scott Sinclair chewed up ground before turning Gareth McAuley inside out to fire the ball past the stricken Boaz Myhill in the visiting goal.

Sinclair proably wouldn't have got the time or space to finish if Yacob had been on the park. There was still time for young Villa substitute Jack Grealish to be harshly sent off after he picked up two bookings inside the closing moments - one for a late challenge on Callum McMcManaman, the other for diving after skipping past Joleon Lescott.

The FA will no doubt be studying footage of the match with Villa set for a heavy fine after several fans raced onto the pitch in injury time to hold the game up before a full-scale pitch invasion at the full-time whistle in scenes straight out of the 1980s.

9' CHANCE! What a miss by Brown Ideye. Free shot from six yards out, but he lifts the ball miles over from the Gardner cross. West Brom should leave 1-0. Astonishing miss.

51' GOAL! Lovely finish by Delph after some neat build-up work by N'Zogbia. Thumping hit and the pace proved too much for Myhill to deal with.

56' ASTONISHING MISS! What a miss! Lescott somehow heads wide from three yards out at the back post after it had hit off Clark. West Brom continue to blow chances.

66' CHANCE! Myhill rushes off his line to make the stop from the feet of Sinclair. Villa nearly in for a second goal.

79' RED CARD! Yacob has been sent off. Leandro Bacuna milks an injury, and he is off. Dreadful decision. Wasn't even a second yellow card.

85' GOAL! Sinclair speeds clear before turning inside McAuley. Fabulous finish. No chance for Myhill as he dived to his left. It is 2-0 to Villa.

90+3' RED CARD! Grealish has been booked for a dive after earlier going into the book for catching McManaman late. Two yellows and he is off.

Aston Villa have failed to score in their last five FA Cup semi-finals, though they did beat Bolton on penalties in 2000.

Aston Villa have won all six previous games in which Fabian Delph has scored.

Aston Villa have won ten of their last 10 home FA Cup matches (L1).

Why the FA need to study referee Anthony Taylor's performance Much will be made of the pitch invasion. Villa are facing a heavy fine for that, but the FA should also be looking at the performance of Taylor, whose errors helped to bury West Brom's prospects. Should never have red carded Claudio Yacob. In fact, Bacuna should be looked at for his behaviour in feigning injury. Taylor then compounded his error by sending off young Villa substitute Grealish for a second yellow card when he clearly didn't dive. Poor stuff from the match official.

"Very, very scary. My armband got nicked, someone got my left boot, but I could appreciate the relief the fans are feeling after a result like that. It was dangerous. Someone tried to take my boot off. People tried to kiss me and were biting me. It was scary."

Scott Sinclair (Aston Villa): Really came to the fore in the second half as Aston Villa looked revitalised. And topped off an energetic performance by scoring a lovely goal.

Aston Villa: Given 6, Lowton 6, Okore 7, Clark 6, Bacuna 5, Westwood 6, Delph 7, Cleverley 6, Sinclair 8, Agbonlahor 7, N’Zogbia 7. Subs: Sanchez 6, Gil 6, Grealish 5

West Brom: Myhill 7, Dawson 6, McAuley 6, Lescott 5, Olsson 6, Brunt 6, Morrison 6, Yacob 6, Gardner 6, Berahino 6, Ideye 5. Subs: Mulumbu 6, McManaman 6