Late goals from Leandro Bacuna and substitute Scott Sinclair saw Villa see off fellow league strugglers Leicester City in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Sunday.
After a poor first half, the game really exploded into life in the last quarter as Aston Villa took over the tie. The hosts, who sacked Paul Lambert only a few days ago, took the lead in the 68th minute through Leandro Bacuna - who was about to be replaced - as he cut inside from the left on his right foot and found the bottom right corner.
Then with just a minute left of normal time, the tie was wrapped up by Bacuna's replacement Sinclair, who got onto a lofted ball through and hit early right footed which Leicester keeper Mark Schwarzer batted against himself and then into the net.
Things weren't quite finished yet though as Marko Kramaric powered a Jeffery Schlupp cross from the left in with his head at the near post in the first minute of stoppage time, but it only ended up being a consolation for Nigel Pearson's men.
As far as the first half was concerned there were not a lot of talking points but if anyone was going to score it looked more likely to be the visitors and they had two really good chances to do so. First from a corner as Waiselewski glanced on Matty James's corner at the near post and saw it hit the far and go away from goal.
Another chance did not come untill just after the half hour mark when Matty James rifled one towards the top right corner left footed but Shay Given pulled off an amazing one handed save high to his left, arguably one of the best in his career.
Villa came out a lot more positive after the break though and dominated most of the second half. They had a good chance immeaditly when Bacuna floated in a cross for Fabian Delph who headed over from just six yards.
Then just a couple of minutes later Christian Benteke finally got a decent sight of goal as Alan Hutton headed the ball back into the box and the striker gambled only to be foiled at his feet by Schwarzer.
The game was then really brought to life as Bacuna got a one on one with Danny Simpson on the left side of the box before cutting inside and bending one into the bottom right corner right footed.
Then in the last minute of normal time a place in the last 8 was confirmed by Sinclair as he struck early right footed from a ball over the top and Schwarzer made a real hash of the shot, parrying it backwards into the net.
Kramaric's fine near post header in the first minute of stoppage time was simply too little to late after good work from Schlupp down the left, as managerless Villa earned a place in the quarter finals draw.