Swindon Town 2-3 Aston Villa - Match Report & Gallery

Town suffered late heartbreak in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday night as a last-minute goal from Christian Benteke sealed a 3-2 win for Aston Villa at the County Ground.

The hosts had fought back from two goals down to bring the tie level thanks to a late brace from substitute Miles Storey, but Benteke popped up in the third minute of injury time to win it with his second of the game.

It had looked as though Paul Lambert’s side had paved a much smoother path into the quarter final as they took a 2-0 lead into the break thanks to goals from Benteke and Gabriel Agbonlahor.

It was the former who opened the scoring on the half hour mark – just after Paul Benson had seen his shot cleared off the line by Matthew Lowton.

Stephen Ireland did well to avoid a challenge before clipping the ball into the box for Benteke to nod past the helpless Wes Foderingham in the Town goal.

It was a sucker punch for the hosts who had been the better of the sides early on and though they continued to look lively, they conceded a second on the stroke of the break.

Agbonlahor picked up the ball on the left flank, cut inside and planted a classy finish past Foderingham from just outside the box to give Town a mountain to climb after the break.

Paolo Di Canio’s side started the second period brightly and went close to pulling a goal back on two occasions around the hour mark as first Gary Roberts stabbed the ball just wide from close range, before Benson saw an excellent Matt Ritchie cross drift agonisingly out of his reach.

It took the introduction of academy product Storey to drag Town back into the game; the former Coventry youngster bagging a five-minute brace to light up the County Ground.

The first came as he smuggled a Raffa De Vita cross over the line from close range, before directing an Andy Williams volley past Shay Given and into the corner.

But just as Town looked like they were about to pull off another cup shock, Benteke found space in the box and guided another Ireland cross past Foderingham to silence the capacity home crowd and send Town crashing out.