Warnock fumes as Villa avoid Palace coup

Neil Warnock insisted his Crystal Palace side had been denied a place in the FA Cup quarter-finals by a dubious refereeing decision that allowed Aston Villa to escape with a 2-2 draw at Selhurst Park.

Warnock’s Championship side appeared to be on course to spring an upset against Premier League opposition after Darren Ambrose fired them into a 2-1 lead with 20 minutes remaining.

But Villa were awarded a contentious corner three minutes from time that allowed Stewart Downing to cross for Stiliyan Petrov and the Bulgarian’s header set up a replay at Villa Park.

Both clubs went into the draw for the sixth round and a meeting with either Reading or West Bromwich Albion awaits the winners.

But Warnock was adamant his side had been hard done by, singling out assistant referee Trevor Massey for blame, although he conceded the lucrative trip to Villa Park will help the Championship club’s dire financial situation as they struggle with the aftermath of going into administration.

“The second goal was a disgrace,” Warnock said. “We’ve got a Premiership referee and we’ve got Mr Massey who was laughing his head off all day with the flag. The ball comes off (Nathan) Delfouneso and neither of them wanted to make a decision.

“They wait and wait to see which way to give it. Then, a Premier League team are losing 2-1, so we’ll give it to them. That’s a disgrace. He should be banned for weeks, Mr Massey, because all he could do was smile.

“It’s disappointing. It’s bitter. I’ve been told that if Mr Massey got it wrong, he’ll be suspended. I said to him: ‘will you think about us when you’re sitting and watching on your settee.’

“The referee had a great game, but he was let down by someone who had a poor game. I don’t feel any sympathy if he is suspended. I hope it’s for a long time.

“Does he realise what it means to a club who can’t afford this, that or another and we’re giving everything, and we’re not let down by anything that’s a football matter, and yet we’re let down by incompetence.

“We wanted to take them back there, to be honest. It would have been flat if we’d won and then got Reading or West Brom.

“Let’s get up there then get on with the league. If they have a decent day and we don’t, there’s only one winner let’s be honest. But we worked so hard.”

Villa manager Martin O’Neill was less convinced that his side had benefited from the official’s error, but must now contemplate a gruelling fixture list with the replay scheduled to take place a few days before the League Cup final with Manchester United.

“Trailing 2-1 with a few minutes remaining, I’m pretty pleased to be in the hat for the sixth round. People seem to think it was a really good game,” said O?Neill.

“It’s difficult to assess from where I was. Palace played with a lot of determination and spirit and we had to respond. We lost our way a bit in the second half. It was a long way back from 2-1, but Petrov, who was magnificent for us, came up with that equaliser.

“We’ve come this far in the competition and it is the FA Cup, a splendid competition. We’d love to stay in it. A replay in the week of the League Cup final is not ideal, but it’s preferential to not being in the competition still.

“We’ll have to negotiate Burnley in the league first of all. That’s next week. We’ll see how we come out of that game, in terms of injuries and things like that.

“Stiliyan Petrov didn’t risk life and limb there to head it into the net to give it up now. We’ll see.”

O’Neill’s main concern after the game was an injury to Emile Heskey but he expects the England forward to be fit again soon.