*Fortune favours Gregory as Villa stun Saints*

It is possible, having drawn the lucky losers Darlington in the third round of the FA Cup, that a little of that lucky tag has rubbed off on Villa’s beleaguered manager John Gregory.

Certainly Villa, having lost at home to Southampton in the Premiership last month, enjoyed a considerable upturn of fortune last night with goals from Steve Watson, Julian Joachim and two from Dion Dublin rushing them through to a Worthington Cup quarter-final against West Ham United.

After a frantic and largely inconsequential opening, with Southampton creating the slightly better chances but without threatening David James’s goal, Villa took the lead in the 22nd minute with a Watson header, his first goal for the club since joining them from Newcastle United last year.

This was only his second match in two months, Watson being one of many expensive Gregory signings, including Steve Stone and Paul Merson, who have spent an inordinate amount of time on the substitutes’ bench. Had it been the Villa manager paying nearly £2m for LS Lowry’s painting yesterday, and not the PFA, he would presumably have immediately stuck it in a dark cupboard under the stairs.

Alan Wright’s long cross from the left, swinging slightly away from Paul Jones, should have been cleared by Southampton, but
Watson was virtually unchallenged as he headed over and beyond the exposed goalkeeper.

Hassan Kachloul previously had a shot blocked while Southampton had a fairly half-hearted appeal for a penalty against Joachim for handball as Marian Pahars moved in on goal.

Kachloul escaped the attention of the Villa defence a second time, but his low cross was played too far in front of his forwards - either that or they were too slow on the uptake. This was certainly true of Dean Richards and Patrick Colleter when Watson scored.

They appeared to be bemused by Wright’s cross, rather than attempting to attack it, and although Watson’s header was perfectly timed and placed, he had time aplenty.

Just before half-time Matthew le Tissier replaced Trond Soltvedt who had been injured when James came out to challenge his run on goal. The Saints needed a little magic.

But there was none from the portly Le Tiss. Another raking cross by Wright again eluded Saints’ defence and it took a sprawling save by Jones in the 65th minute to deny Joachim. But not for long. A minute later Joachim virtually sealed Southampton’s fate when a wretchedly poor back header by Colleter allowed the Villa forward to skip airily past the hapless Jones on the edge of the area.

Dublin added a third goal shortly afterwards when once again the frailty of the Southampton defence was horribly exposed. Watson cut in from the right and although his low cross was by no means perfect, Dublin had enough time to control and thump home, with no Saints defender within a yard. His second, and Villa’s fourth, was similarly embarrassing.