Buendía and Durán ease youthful Villa past Wycombe and into fourth round

As Emiliano Buendía wheeled towards the nearest corner clenching his fists in celebration, in front of the bank of 1,848 travelling Aston Villa supporters, it was the kind of cathartic moment he longed for on the darker days of his recovery from an anterior cruciate ligament knee injury. Buendía, captaining a youthful Villa side, headed in the opening goal to help them into the lead before Jhon Durán continued his extraordinary goalscoring run with his fifth goal of the season, this on his first start of the campaign.

For Buendia, these are all milestones. He scored twice at Fleetwood in an EFL Trophy win last month and on his first senior start for 16 months paved the way to the Carabao Cup fourth round. Garath McCleary provided a couple of scares, twice going close, before Declan Skura was penalised for felling Durán in the box, presenting the Villa striker with the chance to double their lead and seal victory.

Whatever happened here, it was almost guaranteed to be less dramatic than the past two meetings between these sides at Adams Park. The last time Villa visited this ground, at the end of an industrial estate, things turned ugly after they failed to beat their League Two opposition in the FA Cup third round in 2016.

Micah Richards confronted angry and vociferous Villa fans, who hurled abuse at their players as they boarded the team coach and Rémi Garde, their beleaguered manager, gave a series of curt answers as his team extended their winless to run 16 matches, 10 of which the Frenchman presided over. Matt Bloomfield, who before kick-off shook hands with opposite number Unai Emery, was the Wycombe captain both that day and in the midfield that squandered a 3-1 lead against Villa in 2005. David O’Leary’s Villa, featuring a teenage James Milner, Milan Baros and Juan Pablo Ángel, scored five second-half goals to finish 8-3 winners.

Villa had another Colombian No 9 leading the line here, Jhon Durán promoted to the starting lineup after four goals in five substitute Premier League appearances this season, with Ollie Watkins among the regulars given the night off. Emery handed full debuts to goalkeeper Joe Gauci, centre-back Sil Swinkels and the forward Kadan Young, one of two teenagers in Villa’s starting lineup. Only Amadou Onana was retained from the Villa team that began last Saturday’s win against Wolves, while six teenagers, including three 17-year-olds, were included on the bench. The 30-year-old Ross Barkley was the only Villa player over the age of 27 in the matchday squad. Wycombe, too, made changes, eight of them from their League One victory over Cambridge.

Jhon Durán (in white) is fouled for the penalty which he took to make it 2-0. Photograph: Catherine Ivill/AMA/Getty Images

Durán’s borderline-silly goalscoring form has been one of the stories of the top flight this season but he had a rare misstep inside 35 seconds, firing wide when one on one with the Wycombe goalkeeper Franco Ravizzoli after racing on to Leon Bailey’s fine through ball. Durán later rounded Ravizzoli but, almost at the byline, he sent a wayward shot over from a tight angle.

He wound up another left-foot shot on 37 minutes but powered wide and against the digital advertising hoardings. Alex Hartridge made a heroic block to prevent Kosta Nedeljkovic’s strike from troubling the Wycombe goal.

The hosts were not merely passengers in an even first half, with the former Birmingham striker Beryly Lubala missing Wycombe’s best chances. Lubala forced Gauci into a routine early save and later failed to generate enough power on his shot to test the Australia goalkeeper after controlling David Wheeler’s clever touch on his thigh.

Wycombe, 11th in League One, had the first effort seconds into the second half, Matt Butcher’s shot cannoning off Lamare Bogarde and wide for a corner.

Villa had not overwhelmed Wycombe and Emery wore the look of a relieved man when his side seized the lead approaching the hour. Young piled down the left, zooming past the Wycombe full-back Jasper Pattenden and firing a cross into the box. Joe Low, the Wycombe defender, attempted to clear the ball with his right foot but it inadvertently looped over a jumping teammate in Tyreeq Bakinson and on to Buendía’s radar in the box.

The 5ft 7in Argentinian, unmarked and apparently on his toes, sprang to guide a clever header in off a post. A touch of breathing space allowed Emery to introduce the 17-year-old Aidan Borland, signed from Celtic last year, in place of Bailey and for Jacob Ramsey to replace Onana. Durán settled things from the spot late on, allowing Emery to hand further debuts to youngsters Travis Patterson, Ben Broggio and Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba with a couple of minutes to play. Richard Kone grabbed a consolation for the hosts deep in stoppage time.