SOCCER:MARTIN O'NEILL delivered what John Carew described as "some serious words" at half-time to inspire Aston Villa to recover from a two-goal deficit against Reading yesterday and set up an English FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea at Wembley next month.

In an absorbing contest that saw Shane Long score twice for Reading before the interval, Villa eventually triumphed 4-2 after a second-half hat-trick from Carew, although it was clear where the motivation for the turnaround had come from.

O'Neill is renowned for being a measured speaker, but the manager's ire was stoked after watching a listless first-half performance that left Villa's hopes of reaching the last four of the FA Cup hanging by a thread. He was reluctant to divulge the details of his half-time message afterwards, but Carew, who would have started on the substitutes' bench but for Gabriel Agbonlahor pulling out on the eve of the match with a stomach upset, left little doubt that the Villa manager was furious. "We were struggling in the first half and the gaffer told us some serious words at the break," said the Norwegian. "I won't go into what he said, but you can see on the pitch what happened."

Ashley Young, who scored the first of the three Villa goals that arrived in the space of 10 second-half minutes, admitted the players had been left in no doubt heir efforts had been unacceptable. "Our first-half performance wasn't as good as it could have been and (the manager) told us about that," said Young, who described Carew's contribution as "sensational".

O'Neill praised the character Villa showed in the second half, but not before expressing his frustration at watching an abject opening 45 minutes in which he felt Villa were lucky to go in at the interval trailing by only two goals. He conceded that the crushing disappointment of the League Cup final defeat to Manchester United might have been a factor, but he also said there could be no excuses for such a lacklustre approach to an FA Cup quarter-final.

"I think after all the effort that we had put not only into the Carling Cup but also to get to this stage (of the FA Cup), to go out as meekly as we might have done after the first-half performance would have been really disappointing," said O'Neill.

The Derryman was bullish after hearing his side had been paired with the favourites in the last four.

"We are delighted to be in the semi-finals of the FA Cup and we will take on anybody," he added. "Chelsea are one of the best sides in Europe but we will take them on. And we certainly don't fear them."

Chelsea assistant manager Ray Wilkins said: "When you get to this stage of the competition the opposition is always going to be tough, and Aston Villa will be a tough game for us."

FA Cup semi-finals

Aston Villa v Chelsea

Fulham or Tottenham v Portsmouth

Ties to be played on the weekend of April 10th-11th.