Aston Villa beat Notts County 5-3 on Tuesday evening, to progress into the Capital One Cup second round. A topsy-turvy affair ended 3-3 after 90 minutes, before Villa scored twice in extra time to take home the victory.
The underdogs take a shock lead
Making his home debut after an impressive cameo on Saturday, Adama Traore wasted no time in getting on the ball, running the ball out of play with one dribble, before being brought down in the box on another - with no penalty awarded.
However, the first shock of the night came after 16 minutes, when County took the lead through Genaro Snijders. A huge deflection took the ball away from Mark Bunn, and it looped over him.
Good work from Jon Stead allowed Izale McLeod to get a shot away, and it was almost 2-0, with the strikers effort going just wide of the goal.
Villa did get back on level terms soon after though, thanks to Traore. The credit must go to Jack Grealish, who went on a winding run, going past players sweetly as he made it to the box, before playing in Traore who finished with ease on the right.
End to end excitement takes over
With Villa manager Tim Sherwood setting up in an attack minded formation, with midfielder Carlos Sanchez playing at the back, it was very much a 'you attack, we attack' game, which saw the underdogs go ahead again on the stroke of half-time.
It came through a penalty, given away by 'keeper Bunn, who was having something of a nightmare debut. He brought down McLeod in the penalty area, and couldn't prevent Stead's kick flying into the top left hand corner.
Goals galore in the second half
More goals came right at the start of the second 45, Scott Sinclair scoring the first of two on the night for him, to level the game once more.
It was a superb goal from Sherwood's men, with Kieran Richardson driving forward on the counter-attack, before rolling it to Grealish down the left hand side. Grealish whipped it in for Sinclair, who met the ball at the back-post to tap it in and make it 2-2.
However, the score didn't stay like that for long, with Notts County taking the lead for a third time minutes later. Graham Burke, a former Villa player, got the goal - an absolute stunner. Taking the ball on the right hand side, Burke curled an incredible effort off the post to score from at least 30 yards out, restoring the lead.
Things weren't imroving for the Villans in a hurry, with Traore forced off with an injury, replaced by forgotten man Joe Cole. Their goalmouth was being peppered, with a large hand from Bunn preventing Stead extending the lead, before the goalkeeper was forced into action again, smothering Snijders' effort.
Another equaliser was eventually forced by Villa, with Richardson again playing a big part on the counter-attack. Worming his way into the box, he was brought down, forcing the second penalty of the game - which Sinclair tucked away to take the game to extra time.
Villa win it in extra-time
The Premier League side eventually prevailed in extra-time, scoring twice against a County side devoid of energy to seal a 5-3 win.
Sinclair got the first, sealing his hat-trick after slotting in following Joe Cole's pass, before a superb individual goal from Joe Bennet sealed the win, as he went past two men before rifling in from the edge of the area.