Martin O'Neill relishing return to Wembley with Aston Villa

Villans face Chelsea in FA Cup semi-final

8 Mar 2010 12:42:00

By Alan Dawson

More On :  Aston Villa
CC: James Milner, Aston Villa - Manchester United (Getty Images)

Aston Villa's come-from-behind victory over Reading in the FA Cup quarter-final guaranteed a second Wembley appearance for Martin O'Neill's side, and the Ulsterman has claimed it is "great" to be back at the national stadium despite the undesirable state of the pitch.

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The Midlands outfit went a goal ahead in the League Cup final against Manchester United just over a week ago, only to lose 2-1. The Villans, though, will get a chance to exorcise their Wembley demons when they face Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final in April.

"It's great to be back at Wembley again - even on that pitch," O'Neill said in The Birmingham Mail. "I didn't enjoy the occasion at all last week so there is a chance to put that right now.

"It took us time today before we treated it like a quarter-final in the FA Cup. You need character and determination to fight and we didn't have that in the first half.

"But it came back in great abundance. It's fantastic for the football club to be in the semi-finals and I genuinely feel for the supporters. They were fantastic.

"Even at 2-0 down to a Championship club they were cheering us on and that was a big boost."
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