FA CUP

Wycombe Wanderers 1

Aston Villa 1

LONDON • Remi Garde's winless sequence as Aston Villa manager now stretches to 10 matches and the indignities continue to stack up for the team holding the Premier League's wooden spoon.

Their fans were singing about relegation yesterday and Garde cannot have failed to hear the mutinous reaction when the dark humour made way for open dissent.

His decision to substitute Carles Gil in the 70th minute of Villa's FA Cup third-round tie with Wycombe Wanderers did not go down well with the supporters who had earlier chanted, "We scored a goal" in mock surprise at taking the lead.

This, however, is a team who have scored twice in only one game since September.

Joe Jacobson's penalty four minutes into the second half means a replay at Villa Park and the away supporters vented their anger again at the final whistle.

Villa ought to have made it a more straightforward afternoon after Micah Richards surged forward to score the opening goal.

Instead, the rest of the match exposed Villa for what they are: A side low on confidence, conceding all sorts of goals and so devoid of attacking threat that there were only sporadic moments when they put their fourth-tier opponents under sustained pressure.

Richards limped through long spells of the match after being injured shortly after his goal but, beyond their captain, there was a startling lack of leadership from Garde's men.

Wycombe had matched their opponents for long spells and Ashley Westwood's reckless challenge on Matt Bloomfield gave Jacobson a chance to level from the spot that the full-back took full advantage of.

THE GUARDIAN