Friday, 12 February 2010 at 19.00 UK time, Villa’s Under 18s take on Millwall in the Fifth Round of the FA Youth Cup.

I assume the game will be at Villa Park, rather than Bodymoor Heath, but I haven’t seen any confirmation of that.

Millwall are not a Premier Academy League team, and have been in the competition since the First Round Proper. They beat Barnsley 5-4 in the last round; a 1-3 away win at Torquay United in the Third Round; 1-0 over Oxford United in the Second Round; and 3-1 over Southend United in the First Round.

Villa, as a Premier team, started in the Third Round with a 4-0 win over Rochdale [Gary Gardner (3), Ryan Simmonds], followed by a 0-2 away win at West Bromwich Albion [Gary Gardner, Arsenio Halfhuid].

Of course, we are now without inspirational skipper and prolific goalscorer, Gary Gardner, who is out for nine months with cruciate ligament damage.

But, we should still be more than a match for Millwall.

I imagine the team will be similar to the one that drew 1-1 with Bristol City last Saturday:

------------------------------Callum Barrett
Will Grocott   Ellis Deeney   Daniel Devine   Derrick Williams
Samir Carruthers   Jason Lampkin   Richard Blythe   Tomos Roberts
---------------Arsenio Halfhuid   Ryan Simmonds

This match has been rescheduled from an earlier date (postponed due to weather I think) and the draw for the Sixth Round has already been made – we are away to Fulham – or perhaps I should say, Villa or Millwall are away to Fulham…..nah, we are away to Fulham.

Prediction:  Villa 4 Millwall 1

Up The Villa
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UPDATE 12/2/10

The game has just finished and Villa were 4-1 winners (just as I predicted ). Ryan Simmonds scored the first, followed by a hat trick by makeshift striker Arsenio Halfhuid   Millwall missed a penalty (hit the bar), but Villa were just too good for them.

Team: Barrett; Grocott, Deeney, Devine, Williams; Carruthers, Lampkin (Nelson-Addy), Blythe, Roberts (Berry); Halfhuid (Poyser), R. Simmonds.
Substitutes not used: Coton, Taylor.

Well done lads Bring on Fulham