A dramatic penalty shoot-out defeat to Alvechurch saw Aston Villa’s Under-21s bow out of the Birmingham Senior Cup at the quarter-final stage on Tuesday night.
After an extraordinary 90 minutes at Lye Meadow ended with the score locked at 5-5, the home side prevailed with a 5-4 victory on spot-kicks to seal their place in the semi-finals.
Charlie Lutz scored a superb hat-trick for Villa, with Finley Munroe and substitute Dylan Mitchell also on target during normal time.
It was an action-packed encounter from the first whistle and Oliwier Zych got down low to his left twice in the opening 10 minutes to make two excellent saves.
Munroe then opened the scoring by firing into the top corner with his left foot after a neatly-worked short corner routine, with just nine minutes on the clock.
Lutz doubled the lead with a clinical finish on the counter-attack just before the midway point of the first half, and Villa continued to apply the pressure with Kyrie Pierre, Chisom Afoka and Todd Alcock all going close before the break.
Against the run of play, Alvechurch pulled a goal back in first-half stoppage time, with Jed Abbey whipping a free-kick into the corner of the net, leaving Zych with no chance.
Villa’s two-goal lead was restored as the game approached the hour-mark, with Lutz racing through after a mistake at the back before finding the corner for his second of the night.
Incredibly, the home side found themselves levelling the score at 3-3 just four minutes later, with Jack Concannon and Tyrell Skeen-Hamilton both on target in quick succession.
Alvechurch then had a goal disallowed for offside, before Mitchell found the corner at the other end to put Villa back in front.
The tie was turned on its head as the final five minutes approached, as Abbey scored twice in four minutes to complete his hat-trick and put the hosts ahead for the first time.
Villa displayed immense character throughout and responded to the setback admirably, with Lutz completing a treble of his own in stoppage time to make it 5-5.
After five spot-kicks, the shoot-out was level at 4-4 but Alvechurch took their chances in sudden death to earn a spot in the last-four.
Alvechurch: Randle, Dugmore, Burton, Carter (C), Williams, Neto-Teixeira, Edge, Abbey, Cancannon, Waldron, Skeen-Hamilton.
Substitutes: Jezeph, Jones, Clayton-Phillips, Soule, Cassidy.
Aston Villa: Zych; Ealing, Smith, A. O'Reilly, Munroe; Barnes, Lindley (C), Alcock; Pierre, Lutz, Afoka.
Substitutes: Wright, McDowell, Simpson, Mitchell, Pavey.
