In the English Capital One Cup, Brett Holman found the back of the net as Aston Villa progressed through to the semi-finals with a comprehensive 4-1 win over Norwich City. Holman, who played 73 minutes, equalised for Villa on 21 minutes, just after Norwich had taken the lead through Steve Morison. Holman ran onto Christian Benteke’s downward header at full pace before unleashing a bullet strike past Mark Bunn from outside the box. Fellow Aussie Chris Herd played the full 90 minutes in defence and put in a good shift against a Norwich side who suffered their first loss in 10 games.

Elsewhere, James Meredith played the full 120 minutes at left-back as Bradford City secured a shock 3-2 penalty win over Arsenal after the game finished at 1-1.

The news wasn’t as good for Scott McDonald, as Middlesbrough were bundled out of the competition following a 1-0 loss to Swansea. McDonald was fairly quiet in the contest, but had a chance to equalise at the death however Ishmael Miller’s low cross was just out of reach of the arriving McDonald.

In the English Premier League, Adam Federici played a full game in goal for Reading as their survival hopes suffered a further blow with a 3-0 loss at lowly Sunderland. Federici was beaten after just three minutes as his punch from Adam Johnson’s corner failed to clear the area and James McClean pounced to lash home, beating Federici at his near post. Despite the setback, Federici did produce a fine save to deny Seb Larsson just minutes later while he made a handful of decent saves in the second half to keep the score respectable.

On Monday, Mark Schwarzer played 90 minutes as Fulham beat struggling Newcastle 2-1. Schwarzer had a relatively quiet game but was perhaps unlucky to be beaten by Hatem Ben Arfa’s long range strike which took a slight deflection before dipping just under the crossbar.

In the Coppa Italia, James Troisi was a 73rd minute substitute as Atalanta crashed out following a 3-0 loss to AS Roma.

In the UAE Pro-League, Alex Brosque scored his seventh goal of the season as Al Ain retained their six point lead at the top of the table following a 2-1 win over Al Wahda. Brosque scored the game’s opener on six minutes, latching onto Asamoah Gyan’s superb back-heel to finish past Adel Al Hosani.

Nick Carle started and played 83 minutes as Baniyas slipped to their second consecutive defeat after a 3-0 loss to Al Jazira. After playing the majority of the season as a winger, Carle was employed in his more customary role as a central midfielder and was busy, setting up numerous opportunities in a game which the scoreboard didn’t reflect Baniyas’ performance.

Elsewhere, Richard Porta returned from injury to put in a full shift as Dubai lost 3-1 to Al Shabab, while Lucas Neill was absent with a hamstring injury as Al Wasl recovered from 2-0 down to beat Al Shaab 3-2.