Taylor failed to make his apologies when Merson again put him in a goalscoring situation this time cleverly slipping a short

Taylor failed to make his apologies when Merson again put him in a goalscoring situation, this time cleverly slipping a short pass between Darlington defenders. Taylor snatched at his shot which clipped the foot of the post. But Villa were at last keeping their sturdy and not unskilful opponents on the back foot.The concentration of attacks led almost inevitably to Villa adding to their lead. Admittedly, even top Premiership defences have the same problem.

The goal was his first for Villa and encouraged him to search for more. Indeed he missed a second by the length of his small boots when he attempted to stretch for a low cross by Mark Delaney in front of a sparsely defended goal.The tie should have been closed by Villa 10 minutes into the second half when Merson curled the ball into the penalty area only to have Ian Taylor head wide. Duffield hit it firmly but this time James proved a more formidable obstacle and the ball spun off him harmlessly. Villa's frowns matched those of their jittery manager, John Gregory.Relief for Villa came two minutes from half time when Benito Carbone, hovering outside the area, saw Mark Samways off his line and penalised him with a crashing shot high beyond the goalkeeper.The danger of giving Carbone space had already been pointed out to Darlington, yet at the opening of the second half they were still allowing him to roam.

However, after 29 minutes a searching drive from Neil Heaney forced James to abandon thoughts of catching the ball As he palmed it to the ground, Peter Duffield came at him The ball was loose. And even with their side lacking leading scorer, Marco Gabbiadini, they had much to cheer about early on.The Third Division side elected to play a well-formed, possession game that kept Villa fumbling for the first 30 minutes - and saw Darlington threatened only spasmodically. The returning Ugo Ehiogu might have changed all that but failed to make good contact in front of goal. A header from Gareth Barry was blocked on the line and Dion Dublin headed close. Darlington deserved their escapes.Withdrawing players effectively from midfield to defence, they coped well with the running of Paul Merson and strength of Dublin but rarely had more than nominal numbers in the Villa half. They were called "lucky losers" because they had been beaten fair and square by Gillingham in the previous round but put back in the draw. Any reasonable person (which presumably eliminated most of the decision-makers at the FA) would offer the chance to an unlucky loser, such as those who at least made the second-round replays.Nevertheless, Darlington are an optimistic club with a mega-rich chairman who has Premiership ambitions.

George Reynolds, once a convicted safecracker, says he was "one of the best in Europe", but these days he thinks more of Darlington breaking into the big-time - even Europe. Certainly their 6,000 travelling fans noisily out-voiced a modest Villa crowd subdued by recent results. Aston Villa 2 Carbone 43, Dublin 63 Darlington 1Heckingbottom 71Half-time: 1-0 Attendance: 22,101SO WHO was the lucky one? Darlington, the "lucky losers", given Manchester United's place in the FA Cup third round, or Villa, who in their current form would almost certainly have lost to United? Either way, Darlington took the opportunity hopefully and bravely to give Villa yet another fraught afternoon.Quite why Darlington had been given this second chance as a result of United's opting out to play in the World Club Championship was baffling. Despite some injury-time scrambling, Birm-ingham held out safely enough.Their strategy was to keep their goal intact and, as they did not possess a recognised striker in the side, to profit from the set pieces This they duly managed. "What this team lack in ability they make up for in sheer endeavour," Francis said.

"We have a good dressing-room spirit and that's what is seeing us through at the moment."As for Taylor, he departed with this chilling verdict: "I'm not certain too many of my players have been able to see beyond getting into the Premiership.". Grainger bent in the corner and the inspirational Rowett did the rest.There was time for Poole to pull off another exceptional save from Wooter's replacement, the Icelander Johan Gudmundsson, and Watford's desperation was shown by the introduction of an 18-year-old striker, Stephen Brooker, and the veteran Nigel Gibbs, his 474th appearance in a Watford shirt. "I was a bit concerned they might melt if I went in too strongly," he explained. Far from melting, Watford were brimming with resolve after the interval. Michel Ngonge had a shot deflected over the top and Micah Hyde produced Kevin Poole's first save of the match.Watford's best effort came from Nicky Wright, back after a six-match absence following a hernia operation. He executed a brisk one-two with Neil Cox and let fly from just inside the penalty area, only for Poole to turn it aside brilliantly Then, out of the blue so to speak, the Blues won it. Three bookings, not a shot on goal, no wonder they were booed off at the interval.They had lost their Dutchman, Nordin Wooter, with an ankle injury after 18 minutes but looked no better before that blow than they did after it.Apart from Rowett's header against the bar, Chamberlain did well to keep out Chris Holland's near-post drive and allow Taylor to send out his troops with a gentle ear-bashing and new resolve.