Aston Villa 1-2 Stevenage

Aston Villa exited the FA Cup at Villa Park on Sunday after Stevenage staged a late comeback to reach round four.

Morgan Sanson’s first goal for the club put the hosts ahead after 33 minutes, and they saw chances to extend their lead come and go.

The match was flipped on its head with five minutes remaining when Leander Dendoncker was shown a red card for pulling Dean Campbell down in the box.

The resulting penalty was buried by Jamie Reid before the League Two side snatched a dramatic winner via Campbell’s stoppage-time drive.

Unai Emery made eight changes from the team that drew with Wolves in midweek, and the hosts searched for fluidity during a low-key opening.

The visitors arrived at Villa Park with plenty of confidence thanks to their form in League Two, which has taken them to second in the table, and they stunned the home crowd when they put the ball in the back of the net after 16 minutes.

Luke Norris ran in behind the Villa defence and slid the ball across for Danny Rose, who applied the finishing touch at the far post. Thankfully for the home side, a VAR check revealed Norris was offside in the build-up.

The close call sparked a response from the players in claret and blue, with Coutinho testing Taye Ashby-Hammond with a deflected strike before the Brazilian fired another effort wide.

Villa were struggling to penetrate a resilient Stevenage before they opened the away team up with a move of quality on 33 minutes.

Douglas Luiz, Leon Bailey and Danny Ings moved the ball incisively before the latter laid it off to a surging Sanson, who set himself and rolled the ball inside the far post.

In contrast to the first half, Villa flew out of the traps after the restart and quickly put Stevenage under pressure, with only a last-ditch block from Max Clark denying Bailey a goal.

Boro were determined not to go down without a fight and they offered a reminder of their attacking threat when captain Carl Piergianni headed narrowly wide from a corner.

The Holte End was in prime position to take in the majority of the action as Villa hunted a second goal, which nearly arrived when Chambers poked Coutinho’s cross inches wide.

It proved to be the playmaker’s last act before he was replaced alongside goalscorer Sanson, allowing Jacob Ramsey to make his return after injury.

Emiliano Buendia, Ollie Watkins and Ashley Young were also introduced as Emery looked to close the game out, but the head coach could only watch on as Stevenage were awarded a penalty with minutes remaining.

After collecting Robin Olsen’s pass, Dendoncker was dispossessed by Campbell and proceeded to pull the attacker to the ground. A VAR check offered hope that the infringement took place outside of the penalty area, but after a long wait Graham Scott pointed to the spot once again before brandishing a red card in Dendoncker’s direction.

Reid grabbed the ball and sent Olsen the wrong way to send the away fans into raptures.

The visitors were suddenly full of life, and they capitalised on their momentum with a second goal as the game ticked into stoppage time.

Campbell collected a short corner and drilled the ball inside Olsen’s near post to send Stevenage into the next round at Villa’s expense.