*Stiliyan Petrov’s late equaliser denied Crystal Palace a place in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and kept alive Aston Villa’s hopes of a second Wembley appearance of the season.*

The Eagles were on the verge of an unlikely fifth-round victory when Petrov plunged to meet Stewart Downing’s corner with a diving header to hand Martin O’Neill’s side an 87th-minute equaliser.

The cash-strapped Championship club led twice through goals by Johnny Ertl and Darren Ambrose, but were pegged back first by James Collins and then, cruelly, by the Bulgarian.

A replay is not the worst outcome for the Eagles, who went into administration at the end of January with estimated debts of £30m and will at least see their bank balance benefit from a trip to the Midlands.

But it is the last thing Villa wanted, especially as their rematch with Palace will take place in the week leading up their Carling Cup final against Manchester United at the end of February.

O’Neill has never reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup as a manager before, a strange anomaly for a manager who has won the League Cup twice with Leicester and the Scottish Cup on three occasions with Celtic.

But he made his intentions here clear by picking a strong side featuring first-choice goalkeeper Brad Friedel, and two England hopefuls in Ashley Young and Stewart Downing, and his team initially took the game to their hosts.

Most of the visitors’ early chances came from moves down either flank and the Eagles were fortunate to survive when Claude Davis beat Richard Dunne to Emile Heskey’s knockdown.

Villa also felt they should have had a penalty when Ashley Young went down under a challenge from Nathaniel Clyne after running on to Petrov’s neat through ball.

The pressure was enough to silence the home fans, but they soon had something to shout about when Ertl gave them an unlikely lead after 25 minutes.

Friedel, starting his first cup tie of the season in place of his usual understudy Brad Guzan, could not reach Ambrose’s corner and the Austrian midfielder rose to plant his header in the back of the net.

Villa are not used to going behind - Friedel has kept a clean sheet in eight of his last 11 league games - but their response was as efficient as it was impressive.

Soon after Young’s whipped cross from the right just eluded the onrushing Heskey, Downing fired in a fierce free-kick from the same flank for Collins to nod home at the near post.

By now the game had developed into a classic Cup tie and both sides had further chances before the break - Heskey and Petrov heading over for Villa, while Palace’s best effort came when Ambrose’s deflected free-kick forced Friedel to punch clear.

The tempo did not let up after the break, with John Carew - on for Heskey - testing Speroni with a snap-shot on the turn from the corner of the six-yard box.

But from then on chances dried up at both ends until Palace regained the lead through a strike of real quality by Ambrose after 70 minutes.

The former England Under-21 international stepped up to smash home a 30-yard free-kick after Petrov fouled Nick Carle, with Friedel unable to keep the ball out despite getting a hand to it.

Things almost got worse for Villa when Ambrose sent a looping header on to the top of Friedel’s crossbar but they came back strongly in the closing stages.

Palace initially held out, with Speroni producing a cracking save to tip the ball over after Richard Dunne flicked on a free-kick and Carew nodded goalwards.

The Argentine keeper was less convincing from the following corner, though, flapping at thin air and then turning to see Collins’s close-range shot blocked on the line by Clyne.

But he did brilliantly to keep out Carew’s close-range header from Young’s clipped cross - only for the Eagles’ resistance to be finally ended from the resulting corner.