Everton's sensational 16-year-old Wayne Rooney lived up to the pre-match hype but it was Aston Villa's Moore brothers - Stefan and Luke - who ultimately made the decisive contribution in front of 15,000 fans at Goodison Park as the claret and blues took a stranglehold on this match last night.

After Rooney's brilliant start to the game was rewarded with his opening goal, Stefan scored twice to put Villa firmly in the driving seat. As Everton tired, the visitors struck twice more in the final quarter through Peter Hynes and Luke Moore, Stefan's younger brother, to make Saturday's second leg at Villa Park look a formality.

Barring a home calamity, the 50th FA Youth Cup will be won by Aston Villa - their first triumph in this tournament for 22 years.

Even so, the second leg will continue to have interest with both Rooney and Stefan Moore chasing Michael Owen's all-time FA Youth Cup record of nine goals in a season.

Rooney has eight this time and Moore seven - plenty of personal incentive for the two England Youth internationals to give it their best shot on Saturday.

Everton manager David Moyes said it's "best we don't say too much about Wayne Rooney." But with talent like his, it's going to be impossible to keep his potential from the wider public at large.

In his previous outing, Rooney scored a hat-trick for England under-17s. He should have repeated the feat for his club in the opening half-hour when his pace, control and running off the ball had Villa's defenders dizzy.

The youngster resembled Alan Shearer with, dare we say it, a bit more speed. After 11 minutes he muscled marker Liam Ridgewell out of the way with brute strength but flashed his low finish wide.

He then raced onto Michael Symes' pass in a flash and goalkeeper Wayne Henderson had to beat his shot away for a corner. David Carney took the kick, Craig Garside flicked on and Rooney showed he is no slouch in the air either by heading the opening goal at the far post.

 

At this stage, Villa's much-vaunted brothers Stefan and Luke Moore had been quiet. But falling behind seemed to bring out their more adventurous side.

Stefan had a shot deflected onto the crossbar before he rose gracefully after 37 minutes to gracefully glide Stephen Foley's corner into the net with a header.

Stefan, at 18 the older of the brothers has already represented England at under-16, under-17, under-18 and under-19 level.

If anyone doubted his pedigree, his second goal would have silenced them.

Peter Hyne skinned Martin Crowder down the left and cut back to Stefan eight yards out. With a possee of defenders around him, the Villa forward performed a neat sidestep to remove the human barriers in front of him and drilled a powerful finish past Andrew Pettinger.

Everton have a proud FA Youth Cup record and won the trophy four years ago led by strikers Francis Jeffers and Danny Cadamarteri.

However, their cause in this year's tournament took a terrible blow midway through the second half. Foley again provided the ammunition and though Hynes failed to connect properly with a low shot, Pettinger saw the ball squirm out from his gloves and trickle across the line.

The tie was effectively wrapped up 13 minutes from time when Luke Moore, another precocious 16-year-old accepted an invitation to hammer in Villa's fourth from inside the penalty area.

Villa deserved their victory and the onlooking Graham Taylor will have been proud of their flowing and entertaining football on the night.

Now, as well as the Charltons and the Nevilles, England have have a new set of footballing brothers. But Villa's teenage siblings Stefan and Luke Moore are taking the whole family thing one step further.

Stefan and Luke play up front together and have left opposition defences seeing double all season.

At first sight, 19-year-old Stefan and 16-year-old Luke are two peas in a pod. Both are slim, dark, possess quick feet and can drift past defenders. For the unitiated, the only way of telling them apart at Goodison was that Stefan wore red boots.

Stefan Moore, scorer of two of Villa's goals, caught up with TheFA.com after the match and says there are significant differences in their game.

 

"I think Luke is more of a goalscorer, I will drop off a little bit more. I think we have different strengths," he says.

Stefan, who has represented England at every level from under-16s to under-19s has seven Youth Cup goals this season just two short of the record which is currently shared by Michael Owen.

He is quick to praise the whole Villa team though - not just his flesh and blood.

"On the pitch, we all look out for each other. I look out for Luke but not more than I would anyone else. We are all in it together, all the players whether we are brothers or not."

The first of Stefan's brace on Tuesday came from a glancing header, the second a firm shot following a neat sidestep. Luke added the visitor's fourth goal late on.

"A lot of our games are on Saturday mornings played in front 10 men and a dog so it's great to have a crowd of 15,000 to play in front of. It gets you hyped up for the game," says Stefan.

"I have to think about breaking into the first-team squad now. I had a month on loan at Chesterfield to get experience and was named in one Villa squad for a European game. The time on loan helped me realise what it was all about in first-team football but hopefully I will be able to continue that at Aston Villa.

"I have to keep playing well and hopefully I will be picked for the Villa first-team,"

Stefan and Luke are both proud Brummies and live with their parents, although they try to not to chat about football all the time over cornflakes.

However, you don't have to be an expert to predict the breakfast conversation should Villa - as expected - win their first FA Youth Cup for 22 years on Saturday.

"We have to approach the second leg like the first - go out and win it," says Stefan. It would be the perfect start for the hottest young footballing family in the country.

Everton: Pettinger; B Moogan, Schumacher, Garside, Crowder; Brown, A Moogan (Colbeck 74), Beck, Carney; Symes, Rooney

Aston Villa: Henderson; Wells, Ridgewell, Marshall, Whittingham; Hynes (Husbands 89), O’Connor (Amoo 85), Davis, Foley; L Moore (Atkinson 90), S Moore

Att: 15,280
Ref: Barry Knight

By Joe Bernstein at Goodison Park