First to say a great thanks to Villa and Brighton to agreeing to a such a low ticket price of £10 and £5, great crowd of nearly 40,000 and so many kids in Villa colours. Fantastic support from the Brighton fans and showed the cup romance is still alive if the price is right.

You would have read elsewhere about the game and it showed that the reserve strength in depth is so much better than than it was 12 months ago. The first half was lacklustre and Brighton deserved their draw at half time. However for the second half we stormed it and could have been 6 or 7 with Delph very close to a hat trick and Delfouneso nearly scored a fantastic 2nd goal. However it seems Warnock may have picked up a hamstring injury and you have to feel for Albrighton who set up the first goal with a great cross to only then pick up an injury, the whole ground felt for him, he was shaping up to have a very good game.

However we saw the future of Villa today. I firmly believe our future is tied up with the likes of Delph, Delfouneso and Albrighton. In fact if everything goes well I can see all three playing for England because I rate them that highly. Add to them the likes of Clark who could also play for England, Milner and Ash Young and in two years time I almost can see that team actually challenging at the very top.

It always dangerous to predict the future of young players but what we saw today showed that if nurtured right, with the right attitude they can become top class Premier and maybe international players, all that is required is patience from the fans.