Marcus Rashford ends drought as Aston Villa sink Preston to reach FA Cup last four

Marcus Rashford ended a four-month drought to put Aston Villa one step closer to wiping out a 68-year dry spell after his double against Preston helped to book a Wembley semi-final with Crystal Palace as they seek their first FA Cup silverware since 1957.

Rashford is a reigning FA Cup winner, lifting the trophy in May last year to help extend Erik ten Hag’s stay at Manchester United but it did little to reignite either’s Old Trafford career.

The 27-year-old forward has improved at Aston Villa after leaving behind his hometown malaise but everyone has been waiting until now for him to deliver goals to remind everyone of his key purpose on a pitch, scoring for the first time since 1 December.

If the thought of facing a Champions League side was not daunting enough, Preston were without a number of key players. The goalkeeper David Cornell was called upon to make only his seventh appearance in two and a half years at the club after Freddie Woodman was ruled out for the season, while there were five teenagers on the bench with a grand total of four minutes of first-team action between them in their lives.

Everything was done to ignite the atmosphere before the match, not that choreography was required for arguably the club’s biggest match in two decades. A banner was passed along the Sir Tom Finney Stand, flags were placed on every seat and “PNE” was displayed in enormous letters behind one goal, while balloons blew across the pitch confirmed the party vibe.

Preston’s fans were eager for history and optimistically thought they merited a penalty in the second minute when Will Keane collided with Youri Tielemans in the box. The referee, Chris Kavanagh, was not interested but it helped to further challenge the Lancastrian vocal cords to reach new limits.

Jacob Ramsey makes victory safe with the third goal. Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty Images

Paul Heckingbottom set up his side to contain Villa to the best of their abilities, limiting the areas for midfielders to work in and offering little space in behind for Rashford, playing as a central striker, to utilise. There was an infrequent desire to counter from the hosts as they lacked pace but it felt like a set-piece was their most likely threat in the circumstances with Emil Riis possessing an Olympic long throw and Robbie Brady dangerous with a dead-ball.

Villa were the more aggressive team in the final third but caused fewer problems than the inflatables in the opening half for Cornell, despite enjoying 72% possession. It was a Brady cross that brought hope to his hardworking teammates, as Emiliano Martínez failed to deal with it, allowing Mads Frøkjær to nod towards Stefan Thórdarson in space eight yards from goal but his neck could not stretch enough to get a header on target.

Rashford should have ended the Preston resistance when he went through on goal but could not get the ball out of his feet, allowing Cornell to stop him in his tracks. Maybe a more confident Rashford would have taken the chance and the Preston jeers would not have boosted it.

Rashford soon had his first Villa goal – his first since scoring twice for Manchester United against Everton – to relieve his own personal tension. Lucas Digne had free reign down the left flank, receiving the ball on the edge of the box without a marker in sight, he squared for Rashford who caressed his shot into the largely vacant net.

The England forward almost turned creator when he pulled the ball back for Rogers whose shot from a few yards was blocked on the line by Jayden Meghoma. It was Rogers who helped out his international colleague when he went down after an Andrew Hughes challenge in the box, allowing Rashford to send Cornell the wrong way and finish the tie as a contest within five second-half minutes.

Preston were wilting in cool Deepdale sunshine and Jacob Ramsey made the most of the tiredness, darting through the middle of the hosts before firing into the bottom corner from the edge of the box. Even if anyone held out any hope of a Preston comeback, that was extinguished, as all the noise came from the packed away end as they mentally planned their trip to Wembley.