ALAN Mclnally kept Aston Villa on the Littlewoods Cup Wembley trail with a breathtaking display of finishing here last night.

Villa’s leading scorer hit two superb goals in five first half minutes after Millwall had taken a shock lead through Neil Ruddock in a blood and thunder third round tie.

David Platt rubber-stamped the Midlander’s passage into the last 16 with a 73rd minute strike and it was no more than Graham Taylor’s men deserved.

They were magnificent in recording their third home victory in 11 days and on this performance will take some stopping in the cup.

Villa tore into Millwall’s defence and birthday boy Mountfield came close to scoring his first goal for the club in the opening 90 seconds.

Lions’ defender Stevens received a stern lecture after hauling down Mclnally on the edge of the penalty box.

But rampant Villa were rocked on their heels by the forward with the best goal-scoring record in the League.

Mclnally wasted little time in cancelling out the Millwall lead.

The three Millwall defenders were unable to lay a boot on him as he danced through from the half-way line before applying the perfect finish.

Daley might have added a Villa third but screwed his shot wide.

Shell-shocked Millwall were struggling to mount any kind of attack. Cascarino hit the foot of the post but referee Shapter had already halted play for an infringement.

Both sides kept up the frantic pace as rival supporters turned Villa Park into a cauldron of noise.

As chances were becoming scarcer Sheringham got on the end of Bailey’s searching centre. It needed a stunning close-range save by Spink to prevent Cascarino from equalising in the 61st minute.

And his opposite number Horne had to be equally alert to smother Platt’s shot. 60 seconds later Mclnally and Cowans combined to send Daley through but Horne was equal to the one on one.

A massive goalmouth scramble in the 66th minute saw Platt, Gage and Price all having shots blocked.

Platt latched onto the poor control and side footed a shot past the helpless Horne in the 73rd minute.