Game #4737
Wednesday, 4 December 2002
Attendance: 23,042
Won
League Cup 4th Round
4th Round
Preston North End
Last 5: 🟩 🟨 🟩 🟥 🟩
Villa Park
Villa hammer first division side Preston in the League Cup to qualify for the Quarter Finals.
Aston Villa
5-0
Preston North End
Assist(s) | Not recorded
KEY MAN
Darius Vassell celebrates scoring his and Villa's second of the night as they go on to put five past first division Preston without reply to reach the League Cup quarter final, Wednesday, 4 December, 2002
PREVIOUS MATCH
NEXT MATCH
MATCH TIMELINE
🔁 | 30’ Sub off, Ian Taylor, Sub on, Mark Kinsella
⚽ | 44’ Goal, 1-0, Darius Vassell, Assist by Mark Kinsella
🕒 | HT Aston Villa 1-0 Preston North End
⚽ | 55’ Goal, 2-0, Darius Vassell, Assist by Dion Dublin
⚽ | 80’ Goal, 3-0, Dion Dublin, Assist by Gareth Barry
🔁 | 82’ Sub off, Jlloyd Samuel, Sub on, Ulises de la Cruz
🔁 | 82’ Sub off, Darius Vassell, Sub on, Juan Pablo Ángel
⚽ | 84’ Goal, 4-0, Juan Pablo Ángel, Assist by Ulises de la Cruz
⚽ | 87’ Goal, 5-0, Thomas Hitzlsperger
🕒 | FT Aston Villa 5-0 Preston North End
ON THIS DAY
Villa sweep aside First Division Preston to progress to the League Cup Fifth Round.
Aston Villa
European Cup / Champions League: 🏆
League Champions: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆
Last Trophy: 1995-96
Preston North End
European Cup / Champions League: ❌
League Champions: 🏆🏆
FA Cup Winners: 🏆🏆
League Cup Winners: ❌
Last Trophy: 1937–38
FIXTURE HISTORY
Preston North End
Previous 5 vs. Preston: 🟨 🟩 🟨 🟩 🟨
FIXTURE DETAILS
Season | 2002-03 |
Matchday | #23 |
Manager Game | #36 |
Wednesday, 4 December 2002
MATCH SUMMARY
Manager: Graham Taylor | 🏴 | Worksop, 2002-2003
Referee: Clive Wilkes | 🏴 | Gloucester, 1990-2003
Kick off: 7.45pm
HT Score: 🟩 1-0
FT Score: 🟩 5-0
FT Result: 🟩 Won
Last 5: 🟩 🟨 🟩 🟥 🟩
MATCH OFFICIALS
Referee: Clive Wilkes | 🏴 | Gloucester, 1990-2003
Previous 5: 🟨 🟨 🟥 🟥 🟥
Last Match: 🟥 24 August 2002, Villa 0-1 Tottenham, White Hart Lane.
Cards: 🟨
CARDS
TEAM NEWS
Gareth Barry replaces Olof Mellberg for the League Cup.
TEAM STATS
Starting XI Average Age
| 27.81 |
Oldest Player |
M Ian Taylor | 🏴 | 34.52 |
Youngest Player |
M Thomas Hitzlsperger | 🇩🇪 | 20.68 |
MANAGER
MANAGER
Graham Taylor | 🏴 |
Craig Brown | 🏴 |
Aston Villa
GK Peter Enckelman | 🇫🇮 |
LB Steve Staunton | 🇮🇪 |
CB Ronny Johnsen | 🇳🇴 |
RB Jlloyd Samuel | 🏴 | 🔁 |
M Ian Taylor | 🏴 | 🔁 |
M Lee Hendrie | 🏴 |
M Gareth Barry | 🏴 | 🔥 |
M Thomas Hitzlsperger | 🇩🇪 | ⚽ |
M Öyvind Leonhardsen | 🇳🇴 |
CF Dion Dublin | 🏴 | 🔥 | ⚽ |
F Darius Vassell | 🏴 | ⚽ | ⚽ | 🔁 |
Preston North End
GK David Lucas | 🏴 |
CB Colin Murdock | 🇬🇧 | 🟨 |
CB Adam Eaton | 🏴 |
CB Chris Lucketti | 🏴 |
RB Graham Alexander | 🏴 |
M Eric Skora | 🇫🇷 | 🔁 |
M Dickson Etuhu | 🇳🇬 | 🔁 |
M Paul McKenna | 🏴 | 🔁 |
M Eddie Lewis | 🇺🇸 |
CF David Healy | 🇬🇧 |
CF Richard Cresswell | 🏴 |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 M Mark Kinsella | 🇮🇪 | 🔥 | for M Ian Taylor | 🏴 | 30’ |
🔁 RB Ulises de la Cruz | 🇪🇨 | 🔥 | for RB Jlloyd Samuel | 🏴 | 82’ |
🔁 CF Juan Pablo Ángel | 🇨🇴 | ⚽ | for F Darius Vassell | 🏴 | 82’ |
SUBSTITUTES
🔁 | M Eric Skora | 🇫🇷 | (M Paul McKenna | 🏴 |)
🔁 | M Dickson Etuhu | 🇳🇬 | (M Mark Rankine | 🏴 |)
🔁 | M Paul McKenna | 🏴 | (W Lee Cartwright | 🏴 |)
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
GK Stefan Postma | 🇳🇱 |
F Marcus Allbäck | 🇸🇪 |
UNUSED SUBSTITUTES
RB Tyrone Mears | 🏴 |
CB Marlon Broomes | 🏴 |
SQUAD STATS
1st XI:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 6/11
Homegrown: 5/11
Squad:
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 6/16
Homegrown: 5/16
MATCHDAY SQUAD
SQUAD STATS
Home Nation 🏴 🏴 🏴 🇬🇧 : 11/14
MATCHDAY SQUAD
UNAVAILABLE
Not reported
UNAVAILABLE
Not Recorded
Player Abbreviations:
GK : Goalkeeper
LB, RB, FB : Left Back, Right Back, Full Back
CB, D : Centre Back, Defender
M, W : Midfielder. Winger
F, CF : Forward, Centre Forward
🟢 : Debut 🔴 : Final Game
Symbols:
⚽ | Goal
🔥 | Assist
🔁 | Substitution
🟨 | Booking
🟥 | Sending off
🆘 | Poor refereeing performance
DEBUT APPEARANCES
FINAL APPEARANCES
MATCH STATS
Not reported
TABLE
PROGRAMME



MATCHDAY QUOTES
“I feel some sympathy for Preston because I didn’t think their performance warranted them being beaten by five goals.”
Graham Taylor.
*BBC Sport*
Wednesday, 4 December, 2002
*Vassell punishes Preston*
Darius Vassell grabbed two goals as Aston Villa cruised to victory over Preston in the Worthington Cup fourth round.
Dion Dublin, Thomas Hitzlsperger and Juan Pablo Angel - with his first touch after coming on to replace Vassell - also scored at Villa Park.
The Premiership side always looked in control, and some razor-sharp finishing underlined their overall superiority.
Resolute Preston defending kept them at bay until the 44th minute, when Vassell opened the scoring.
Mark Kinsella was on hand to put a Colin Murdock clearance back into the Preston box, and Vassell fired home from close range.
His second came 10 minutes after the re-start when a Lee Hendrie cross was laid back by Dion Dublin.
Vassell kept his composure to skip past Colin Murdock and Chris Lucketti before side-footing past goalkeeper David Lucas.
The home side should have gone ahead two minutes earlier when Murdock was robbed by JLloyd Samuel who combined with Vassell to set up Dublin, but he shot wide.
It was not Murdock’s night - he was also booked in the 34th minute for bringing down Vassell.
Preston began the second half brightly, with a 48th-minute cross by Eddie Jones nearly eluding Villa keeper Peter Enckelman.
But Graham Taylor’s team were rewarded for their overall dominance by Vassell’s second - only his fourth goal of the season.
Dublin added a third, heading home from Barry’s cross in the 80th minute, but the night’s best goal came from Angel.
The Colombian latched on to a cross by fellow substitute Ulises De la Cruz to acrobatically hook the ball past Lucas.
Hitzlsperger then put the icing on Villa’s best win of the season, drilling home a left-footed shot from 30 yards.