By Ryan Ghee
February 20 2006

Aston Villa were denied a definate place in the quarter finals of the FA Cup as Manchester City's Micah Richards scored a dramatic equaliser in the fourth minute of injury time. Villa had taken the lead 72 minutes into the match through a neat finish by Milan Baros. However, in the dying seconds of the game, 17-year-old defender Micah Richards grabbed a late equaliser to force a replay for Manchester City.

The first half of the match was largely dominated by the visitors with Villa rarely threatening David James' goal.

Darius Vassell, playing against his former club, had the first clear opportunity of the match as Jlloyd Samuel gifted the ball to him 40-yards from goal. The City striker had a clear run on Thomas Sorensen but the goalkeeper came out on top as he bravely dived at the striker's feet to deny what seemed a certain goal.

Sorensen was called into action again soon after as he tipped Joey Barton's low effort around the post to single-handedly keep City at bay.

From the resulting corner Antoinne Sibierski came close again but his header whistled just wide of the upright.

Villa did finally start to get back into the game before the break but they still failed to have a shot on the City goal and at half-time, the home side were lucky to be on level terms.

The second half was a very different story as O'Leary's men reverted to a more attacking style, barraging the City goalmouth with a litter of crosses and corners.

Milner volleyed wide from long-distance before David James spilled a free-kick from the same player. Luckily for the goalkeeper, Richard Dunne was first to react as he cleared the danger.

With the game starting to open up, Micah Richards almost gave the visitors the lead. The tall defender got his head to a Joey Barton corner only to be denied by Milner on the Villa line.

With 72 minutes on the clock, Milan Baros finally broke the deadlock. Steven Davis played a beautifully weighted ball into his path and the striker drilled the ball past James to send Villa Park into raptures.

Following the goal, City started to apply more pressure on the Villa back-line but Mellberg and Ridgewell continually denied the City strike-force.

However, in the 94th minute of the match, Jlloyd Samuel gave away a corner and with everybody piling into the Villa box, Joey Barton found the head of Richards who headed home to earn City a fifth round replay.