Aston Villa beat Wycombe to progress in Carabao Cup: Match report, player ratings and fourth round draw details

Aston Villa beat League One side Wycombe Wanderers 2-1 at Adams Park to advance to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup. The game saw several academy players make their senior debuts for Aston Villa. Aidan Borland, Kadan Young, Ben Broggio, Travis Patterson and Jamaideen Jimoh all made their debuts, alongside Australian reserve keeper Joe Gauci.

Match report

Unai Emery named ten changes to the team that was victorious over Wolves on Saturday, with the likes of Morgan Rogers, Ollie Watkins, Youri Tielemans, Ezri Konsa, Emi Martinez and Pau Torres not involved in the squad at all. Therefore, Villa had a mixture of senior players and academy prospects in the starting XI and a bench consisting completely of academy players yet to play a senior game for the club, minus Jacob Ramsey.

The first half certainly looked like a team that hasn't played together regularly. Villa struggled to control the game and the League One side had the better chances. Saying that, Jhon Duran was played through by Leon Bailey inside the first minute only for Duran to slide his shot wide of the goal when one-on-one from the edge of the area. After that, Villa created very little and posed no real attacking threat.

Wycombe forward Beryly Lubala found himself in some space just outside the six-yard box but mistimed his volley on goal following an intelligent knock down into his path. The home side was causing an inexperienced centre-half Villa pairing plenty of problems with their long ball threat and through balls down the side. Wycombe forced Villa debutant Joe Gauci into making a couple of fairly comfortable saves before half time but the score remained goalless at the break.

The second half saw Villa slowly begin to take better control of the game, and the passing between the midfield and forward areas was a little more crisp, without really posing any more threat to the Wycombe goal. However, that changed ten minutes into the half as Kadan Young was released down the left. He took on Wycombe right-back Duclan Skura and got to the byeline with his pace before his cross deflected into the path of Emi Buendia. Captain for the evening, Buendia had to rise high to meet the deflected cross and head it over the keeper into the far corner.

Villa seemed content to try and see the game out for the remainder of the half with some slow possession-based play, but was almost made to pay with ten minutes remaining when Gareth McCleary's header from six yards out had to be clawed away by Gauci for a corner.

Despite some nervous moments for the Villa defence, the game was well and truly put to bed five minutes before time was up. After some nice link-up play between Barkley and Duran, Duran raced through down the left-hand side of the box and in the act of taking the ball around the keeper, he was deemed to have been fouled as he fell to the floor. Duran stood up to take the penalty himself and he sent the keeper the wrong way to double Villa's advantage.

Wycombe grabbed a late consolation in the dying seconds of the four minutes injury team through forward Richard Kone. A mix-up between Bogarde and Swinkels at the back led to Kone being able to shoot and he drilled his shot through Gauci's legs to make it 2-1. The final whistle blew seconds later to ensure Villa hung on and advanced to the next round.

Player ratings

Joe Gauci - The Australian was reasonably pro-active in getting off his line, but flapped needlessly at a long throw-in under little pressure in the first half and probably should have saved the shot that resulted in Wycombe's goal. 6

Kosta Nedeljkovic - The Serbian had a quiet game. Didn't really put a foot wrong in defence but didn't show much going forward. 6

Lamare Bogarde - The youngster had a tough evening and looked uncomfortable for the majority. Wycombe posed him a great threat both in the air and down the channels and he looked unsure on the ball. Poor play leading up to the goal too. Much to learn for the academy graduate. 5

Sil Swinkels - The young Dutch defender looked OK. Showed he could make a good pass but struggled to defend Wycombe's aerial threat, particularly in the first half. 6

Ian Maatsen - Making his first start of the season, the former Chelsea man looked the most composed of any in the back four and put in a solid performance. 7

Amadou Onana - The Belgian looked assured in possession but wasn't helped by the lack of experience around him. Seemed to be exposed in midfield by Wycombe's greater numbers and he will have just been glad to have made it through the game without injury. 5

Ross Barkley - Apart from the neat link-up play with Duran in the build up to his goal from the penalty spot, Barkley had a very poor evening. Giving possession away regularly and losing out in the majority of fifty-fifty challenges, he will have done his chances of starting in the Premier League no favours. 4

Emi Buendia - Buendia, starting his first game in over 14 months, was marked out of the game for the majority but showed the odd glimpse of quality. He finished the chance superbly to give Villa the lead. Minutes in the tank are the most important thing. 7

Leon Bailey - The Jamaican was taken off after an hour having posed little threat to the Wycombe defence. Bailey didn't look like having great focus during the game and like Onana will be glad to have just gotten through it without injury. 5

Kadan Young - The academy graduate made his senior debut and did well to set up the Villa opener. He looked to get on the front foot and attack his full-back when he had the ball. Promising. 6

Jhon Duran - The man of the moment missed a glorious chance inside the first minute and struggled to stamp his authority on the game for the majority. He did well to win the penalty with good link-up play and movement, before smashing the ball into the back of the net with confidence. 7

Man of the Match

When will the fourth round draw take place?

The draw for the fourth round of the Carabao Cup is being held on Wednesday 25th September. The ceremony will be broadcast live on Sky Sports and the ball numbers will not be announced until Wednesday morning at the earliest.

It will take place following the conclusion of the third-round all-Premier League clash between Liverpool and West Ham United at Anfield. As there is no extra time played in the competition, the draw is set to commence at around 10 pm but no later than 10:30 pm should the game go to a penalty shootout.

UTV