Marcus Rashford scored his first goals for Aston Villa as they saw off Preston North End by 3-0 at Deepdale to progress to the semi-finals of the FA Cup at Wembley Stadium
The Manchester United loanee perfectly convert Lucas Digne’s cross to broke the deadlock at 13 minutes of the second half-time.
Five minutes later, Morgan Rogers was brought down inside the box and Rashford stepped up to stroke home his second from 12 yards.
The game was completely killed off when Jacob Ramsey raced through the mieldfied and slam home a third.
Preston had been competitive in the first hour, with a beautiful Stefan Thordurson header which went wide in the first half, while their Premier League visitors were limited to chances from set-pieces.
Suffering a long list of absences, however, North End could not stop the Villians and it is Unai Emery’s side on their way to Wembley.
By progressing to the semi final at Wembley, Villa are in the final four for the third time since 2000. Martin O’Neill’s side lost to Chelsea 3-0 at that stage in 2010, while Tim Sherwood of 2015 went one better before losing 4-0 to Arsenal in the final.
Preston next game would be in the Championship and will be aiming to kickstart a positive run-in when they visit Derby on Wednesday while Aston Villa will play Brighton away in the Premier League on the same evening
