Capital One Cup second round: Aston Villa 0 Leyton Orient 1
Leyton Orient substitute Romain Vincelot headed home three minutes from time to ensure the O’s picked up the scalp of Premier League side Aston Villa as they progressed into the third round of the Capital One Cup at Villa Park.
Russell Slade’s side enjoyed the better of the second half and the Frenchman, a scorer in the success at Plymouth Argyle in the last round, popped up to nod past Shay Given and give the O’s a surprise win.
Slade made six changes from the side which drew 0-0 at home to Walsall on Saturday with Gary Woods, former Villa youngster Shane Lowry, Gary Sawyer, Marvin Bartley, Bradley Pritchard and Jay Simpson all coming into the side, with David Mooney skippering the side in Nathan Clarke’s absence.
Orient spent much of the early stages on the back foot and Mathieu Baudry cleared a ball in from Leandro Bacuna, while Jack Grealish’s effort was blocked by Pritchard after more good work from Bacuna.
Paul Lambert’s side forced the first corner of the game through Alan Hutton on 23 minutes, but centre half Nathan Baker could only direct the header wide.
Woods was forced into his first real save when got the slightest of touches on Darren Bent’s shot after the striker broke through the O’s defence.
Slade’s side were under plenty of pressure and Ashley Westwood was the next to go close as he sliced just wide after Grealish had played in the midfielder.
But the O’s had their first real chance of the night on 35 minutes when Lloyd James’ crossfield ball found Elliot Omozusi and his centre was headed well wide by an unmarked Mooney.
And as the half wore on Orient became more of a threat as Dean Cox, making his 200th appearance for the O’s, saw two efforts in quick succession blocked following Mooney’s right wing cross.
It was a bright start to the second half as well for Slade’s side as Simpson’s dangerous ball in almost found Mooney, but he was just unable to get on the end of it.
Up the other end though, Grealish saw another shot deflected wide, while Baker flashed a header over the bar as the chances began to come.
However it was the O’s who went closest when Baudry forced Given to tip his header onto the bar, before Simpson thought he’d given the O’s the lead when he turned in Baurdy’s header, only for it to be disallowed for offside.
The game had certainly become a lot more open in the closing stages and Baker went close once again for hosts as his effort from a corner was deflected wide.
And with just two minutes on the clock O’s substitute Vincelot produced the goods when they needed him the most as Pritchard’s floated ball into the box found the Frenchman who headed past Given.
The O’s had to endure four minutes of stoppage time, but they held on to cause yet a League Cup upset and book their place in the third round of the competition.
Aston Villa: Given, Baker, Bacuna, Cole (Weimann 62), Senderos, Westwood, Richardson, Bent, Hutton, Sanchez, Grealish.
Unused substitutes: Guzan, Clark, Agbonlahor, Delph, Herd, N’Zogbia.
Leyton Orient: Woods, Omozusi, Baudry, Lowry, Sawyer (Cuthbert 62), Cox, James, Bartley (Vincelot 83), Pritchard, Mooney (Dagnall 66), Simpson
Unused substiutes: Legzdins, Clarke, Lee, Henderson
Attendance: 17,918
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