Southampton have booked their place in the last eight of the Capital One Cup courtesy of a 2-1 victory over Aston Villa at St Mary's Stadium this evening.
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The visitors threatened in the early stages of the game as Rudy Gestede wasted two early opportunities to put his team ahead. His first opportunity came when he latched on to Ashley Westwood's corner, but he sent his headed effort wide.
Gestede's second miss was worse as he beat Steven Caulker in the air to reach Alan Hutton's pinpoint cross, only to put the close-range effort past the post.
Southampton worked the ball well down the right as Caulker sent a ball down the flank for Maya Yoshida, who lifted a cross into the penalty area. Graziano Pelle controlled the cross and fired a volley at the net, only to see his effort travel wide.
Kevin MacDonald's men pressed forward and Leandro Bacuna tested the handling ability of Maarten Stekelenburg with a powerful strike from the edge of the box, but the Dutchman was equal to the effort.
In the second half, the Saints took the lead in the 51st minute when Oriol Romeu played the ball inside to the run of Yoshida, and the defender held his composure to bury his strike into the bottom corner.
Villa came close to levelling the scores when Jordan Ayew and Westwood combined to find Gabriel Agbonlahor in space on the edge of the penalty area, but Stekelenurg got his fingertips to his strike to turn the ball past the post.
Southampton secured their win in the 77th minute when Dusan Tadic managed to find Pelle in the area and the Italian volleyed an effort past Brad Guzan.
The visitors got a goal back late in the game when Scott Sinclair converted from the penalty spot, but the Saints held out to secure their place in the quarter-finals of the competition.
Simon Sinclair
