The result sees the Villains through to the Carling Cup final after a 7-4 aggregate victory, but early it seemed Rovers might be heading for Wembley after taking a two-nil lead at Villa Park.

Nikola Kalinic scored the opening two goals for Blackburn, before Villa replied in stunning fashion with a pair of goals before the break from Stephen Warnock and James Milner, the latter a penalty after Christopher Samba was sent-off.

A Steven N'Zonzi own goal along with strikes from Gabriel Agbonlahor and Emile Heskey after half-time put Villa well and truly in control of the tie, until Rovers fought back with Martin Olsson and Emerton scoring.

Emerton's 84th minute hooked volley found its way into the back of the net through a crowd of players to drag Blackburn back into the contest.

But Ashley Young sealed Villa's passage to Wembley with a late goal. Villa will face either Manchester City or Manchester United in the Carling Cup final.

In Belgium's Beker van Belgie, Nikita Rukavytsya started and played 69 minutes as KSV Roeselare grabbed a few handy away goals in their quarter-final first-leg 3-2 loss to KV Kortrijk.

Rukavytsya, who made his Roeselare debut on the weekend, had a few chances including an audacious long-range effort which caught Kortrijk stopper Glenn Verbauwhede by surprise.

Kortrijk did enjoy a three-goal lead late in the contest, before Roeselare grabbed two goals in the last fifteen minutes to give themselves a good chance of advancing ahead of the return-leg on January 27.

In Portugal's Taca de Portugal, young Aussie Jason Davidson was an unused substitute as Pacos Ferreira defeated Nacional 2-1 to move into the final eight of the cup competition.

In England's League One, Australian midfielder Gareth Edds went close with an early deflected volley as a resurgent Tranmere drew 0-0 at Oldham.

In England's FA Trophy, James Meredith's York City face a second round replay after a 0-0 draw at Newport County.