Anyone for tennis?

‘6-4’ is an unusual score at any level of football, but it occurred in a high-profile game last night. Aston Villa had won the first leg of their League Cup semi-final against Blackburn Rovers 1-0 at Ewood Park, when the teams lined up for the concluding leg before a crowd of more than 40,000 at Villa Park.

Rovers went 2-0 up on the night and 2-1 on aggregate. Then Villa hit back with two goals, including a penalty that resulted in a red card to Rovers’ Chris Samba, to make it 2-2 at half-time. The home side were rampant in the second period, progressing the score to 5-2 before a spectacular overhead kick from Martin Olsson and a Brett Emerton strike gave Rovers a glimmer of hope at 5-4.

Then Ashley Young capped an enterprising display on the left flank by bending a right-footer past Paul Robinson for an unlikely 6-4 scoreline (7-4 on aggregate) that took Martin O’Neill’s Villa through to a Wembley Final on 28 February.

The FA Cup can also boast a 6-4 result this season and it came way back in August in the Extra Preliminary Round.

Two clubs from the North West Counties League’s Premier Division, Flixton and Winsford United, drew 3-3 to set up a replay at the latter’s Barton Stadium three days later. Again there was a hatful of goals on a hard, ‘bobbly’ pitch.

Winsford were 2-1 up at the break and Flixton got their noses in front for the first time at 4-3 on 66 minutes. Then, with Flixton’s score first, it went 5-3, 5-4 and 6-4. The Manchester club’s hat-trick hero was their centre-forward, Gareth ‘Gaz’ Feeney, a Manchester United supporter whose career highlight is playing for Bolton Wanderers Reserves against United’s Reserves before 5,000 fans at Old Trafford.