Aston Villa's Under-18s reached the fifth round of the FA Youth Cup with a dominant 3-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion at Villa Park.
Sean Verity's side controlled the majority of the game but had to remain patient to get the goals to seal the tie, with Kaine Kesler and Aaron Ramsey (2) on target inside the last 20 minutes.
The visitors made a promising start with a couple of chances early on, as Zak Emmerson shot over the crossbar before Marcus Ifill had a low effort kept out by Villa goalkeeper Oliwier Zych.
From that point though, Villa dominated the first period with their vibrant midfield three of Arjan Raikhy, Carney Chukwuemeka and Ramsey at the heart of the display.
Louie Barry had a decent effort saved by Toby Bull midway through the half, before Ramsey took control of the game with three good opportunities.
Bull was alert to thwart two of the chances, palming away a curler from the Villa captain before holding on to a close-range strike following a neat turn.
There was one final attempt from Ramsey before the break, as he shot just wide with his left foot following brilliant work from Chukwuemeka to create space.
Immediately after the break, Kesler had an audacious overhead kick saved and held, before Chukwuemeka forced another stop from the Brighton 'keeper.
Villa were having to be patient and also be wary of the visitors' counter-attacking threat, with Moran shooting just wide on 54 minutes.
The breakthrough finally came as the game moved towards the closing stages as Kesler connected well enough to direct Arjan Raikhy's wide free-kick delivery beyond Bull.
Ramsey then went on to steal the show as the floodgates opened, first finishing clinically from inside the box to double the lead on 76 minutes.
Just six minutes later he sealed Villa's safe passage through to the fifth round with the third goal of the night, as he produced another tidy finish into the bottom corner at the Holte End.
Five of the Villa starting eleven now have international duty to look forward to, as well as the next round of this competition after another impressive display.
Aston Villa: Zych; Kesler (Appiah 89'), Bogarde, S. Revan, Chrisene; A. Ramsey (C), Chukwuemeka (Sylla 89'), Raikhy; T. O'Reilly (Lindley 70'), Barry, Young.
Substitutes not used: Swinkels, Afoka, Hart, Reddin.
Brighton: Bull; Nilsson, Turns, Offiah, Sturge (Miller 80'); Collyer, Chouchane (Hinshelwood 80'); Ifill, Moran, Everitt (C); Emmerson (Ferguson 58').
Substitutes not used: Reid, Qureshi, Jackson.
