Angel Delight For Villa  (Sky Sports)

Aston Villa 2 Chelsea 1

Aston Villa inflicted a second defeat inside a week on Chelsea to book their place in the semi-finals of the Carling Cup.

Juan Pablo Angel was the star of the show as he scored one goal and created the other as Chelsea slumped to defeat at Villa Park despite Joe Cole briefly restoring parity.

Claudio Ranieri will have to take his troops back to London knowing the first piece of silverware of the season has escaped his grasp.

Villa had the first shooting chance of the match when Claude Makelele and Mario Melchiot collided but Darius Vassell failed to make them pay as Neil Sullivan made a fine save with his legs.

The home side's early probing failed to bear fruit and Chelsea almost made them pay on the quarter hour but Olof Mellberg made a last ditch tackle to deny Cole.

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was given a sight of goal and let fly from 25 yards but his effort flew disappointingly wide of goal.

Angel, who seems to enjoy playing in the Carling Cup, started the game extremely brightly and he opened the scoring with a goal of the highest quality - his fifth of the competition.

The Colombian took advantage of a piece of misjudgement from William Gallas, skipped past John Terry and unleashed a shot from all of 25 yards which gave Sullivan no chance as it flashed into the top corner.

Chelsea were stunned by Angel's wonder strike and took some time to fashion a response, with Cole their one bright spark in the opening half.

The former West Ham man shot narrowly wide and then went even closer when forcing Thomas Sorensen into making a diving save low to his left following a typically clever run.

Chelsea came out firing after the break, but were guilty of missing a number of chances - the most glaring of which was Melchiot's failure to make contact with an inviting Hasselbaink corner.

Villa were less of an attacking force in the early stages of second half, with Angel their most dangerous weapon. The striker volleyed narrowly wide and, moments later, stung Sullivan's palms with a fine drive.

Hernan Crespo was brought on as a second half substitute but his star dimmed slightly when he wasted a gilt-edged opportunity on 65 minutes.

The Argentine was put through but his dinked effort drifted wide of goal. However, he atoned for his error minutes later when teasing a neat ball into the path of Cole and he made no mistake from close range.

The expected Chelsea onslaught never materialised and it was Villa who showed the greater resolve, with star man Angel inspiring them to victory.

The Colombian showed he has strength as well as craft as he controlled a long ball before rolling his marker and unleashing a shot which Sullivan could only parry and Gavin McCann reacted quickest to bundle home.

Chelsea threw men forward in search of an equaliser but Crespo's acrobatic volley grazed the top of the crossbar, John Terry forced a fine save and Cole fired just wide in a frantic finale.

Teams

Aston Villa: Sorensen, Delaney, Mellberg, Johnsen, Samuel, Hendrie (Hitzlsperger 69), McCann, Barry, Whittingham, Vassell (Moore 52), Angel (Crouch 83).
Subs Not Used: Postma, Ridgewell.
Booked: Delaney, Sorensen.
Goals: Angel 16, McCann 78.

Chelsea: Sullivan, Johnson (Crespo 55), Terry, Gallas, Babayaro, Melchiot, Geremi, Cole, Makelele (Lampard 45), Duff (Gronkjaer 55), Hasselbaink.
Subs Not Used: Desailly, Ambrosio.
Booked: Terry, Gallas.
Goals: Cole 69.

Attendance: 30,414

Referee: N Barry (N Lincolnshire).