The other semi-finalists were confirmed yesterday as the Carling Cup witnessed the bitter Midlands derby and Ipswich hosted West Brom. The Midlands derby was everything a derby should be, with a penalty, controversial decisions and three goals all it was missing was a red card. After a quick start from both sides, Lee Bowyer was brought down in the box by Richard Dunne and referee Chris Foy had no option but to signal to the spot. Seb Larsson stepped up and converted to put the Blues ahead of Villa. They could have been two ahead shortly after when a penalty area scramble saw the ball just about go over the line, however the linesman flagged for offside and the goal didn't side, controversially. The only thing it might have been for was Jerome being offside when the initial ball came in but it didn't make it to him and the goal probably should have stood. After that, Villa came back and were level on the half hour mark thanks to a goal from Gabriel Agbonlahor who continues his fine scoring form against Villa's bitter rivals.
The second half saw a decrease in quality football as both teams lost the ball too cheaply but Villa were overall on top. The attacked Birmingham continuously but mixture of over passing and not being able to find that killer final ball meant that the score remained 1-1. The Midlands derby has been notoriously known lately for late winners, usually in Villa's case, and that's what happened again at St.Andrews. Although this time it was Birmingham who were the heart breakers when Nikola Zigic scored with six minutes remaining, after his shot took a wicked deflection. With the holders and now last year's runners-up out, Birmingham now face a two-legged semi-final against West Ham.
Arsenal will travel to Portman Road in their first leg of the semi-final after Ipswich shocked West Brom by beating them 1-0. A penalty from Grant Leadbitter after 69 minutes saw Roy Keane's side place themselves into the semi-finals.
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