Aston Villa beat West Brom on penalties to reach playoff final

AFP  |  London 

progressed to within one game of a return to the after edging West Midlands rivals West Bromwich Albion 4-3 on penalties in the Championship playoff semi-finals.

West Brom won 1-0 on the night at the Hawthorns to level the tie at 2-2 on aggregate thanks to Craig Dawson's first-half header.

However, the Baggies' hopes of an immediate return to the top-flight were dented when was sent off 10 minutes from the end of normal time.

The hosts held out manfully during extra-time, but saved West Brom's first two penalties of the shootout from and

"There's obviously a lot of luck involved but wow," Steer told

"We practise penalties, so I think I must've faced a 100 a day the last few days."

Conor Hourihane, Mile Jedinak, and kept their cool from the spot as Villa set up a May 27 Wembley meeting with or for a lucrative place in the

Marcelo Bielsa's hold a 1-0 first-leg lead over Frank Lampard's Rams ahead of the second leg at Elland Road on Wednesday.

Villa missed out in the playoff final last year, losing 1-0 to Fulham and Grealish, who has been linked with a summer move to Tottenham, is keen to make amends in what could be his final game for the club.

"The crowd made it tough with the atmosphere but in the end I felt we ran out worthy winners," said the

"It's no good getting to Wembley and falling at the final hurdle again, so fingers crossed. All of us are very hungry.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Wed, May 15 2019. 09:31 IST