Aston Villa are through to their first major final for 10 years after recovering from an opening half-hour horror show to overcome 10-man Blackburn 6-4 on the night and 7-4 on aggregate in a dramatic Carling Cup semi-final tie.

Villa looked shambolic and jittery as Rovers over-turned their first leg deficit with a double strike from Nikola Kalinic.

But a controversial goal from former Blackburn defender Stephen Warnock sparked the comeback and the writing was on the wall for the visitors after the dismissal of defender Christopher Samba, who brought down Gabriel Agbonlahor inside the box.

James Milner scored the penalty and Villa never looked back after that with Agbonlahor, Emile Heskey and an own goal from Steven Nzonzi confirming their superiority.

Blackburn regained their pride with goals from Martin Olsson and Brett Emerton before Ashley Young put the icing on the cake for Villa in injury-time.

Martin O'Neill's side will now meet either Manchester United or Manchester City in the final at Wembley on February 28 and are one step away from lifting their first trophy since the 1996 League Cup.

The long suffering Villa fans will be hoping it is the start of a new era of success after many years of under-achieving since the 1982 European Cup triumph.

O'Neill has slowly but surely rebuilt his team since arriving at Villa Park in the summer of 2006 with the accent on young English talent.

Now the likes of Milner, Young and Agbonlahor will have the chance to show their potential in a major final.

But it will also be special for a long-serving stalwart like defender Richard Dunne, who moved to Villa in August and can now look forward to the first final of his career.

O'Neill's men started slowly though and the aggregate scores were level when Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan was indecisive when attacking what looked a catchable ball from an inswinging corner by Dunn and Kalinic powered in a goalbound header which took a deflection off Warnock.

After 26 minutes Blackburn moved ahead on aggregate. Morten Gamst Pedersen had time to send over a left-wing cross and, although Guzan did well to keep out Olsson's close-range header, Kalinic converted the rebound.

Villa were given a lifeline in controversial fashion by Warnock four minutes later. Agbonlahor clearly pushed Rovers skipper Ryan Nelsen to the ground as Young's right wing cross found its way through a ruck of players to former Blackburn player Warnock - who powered the ball into the roof of the net from close range. Rovers' protests to referee Martin Atkinson were in vain.

Villa started to gain some momentum and five minutes before half-time Heskey's pass was chased down by Agbonlahor, who was brought down in the box by Samba - who was clearly the last defender and given a straight red card by Atkinson.

Milner ensured Villa regained the aggregate lead by hammering the penalty past Paul Robinson for his eighth goal of the campaign.

Villa were now in the ascendancy and in first half injury-time Robinson parried aside a fierce drive from Villa skipper Stiliyan Petrov.

Villa dominated the opening stages of the second half and after 53 minutes an own goal from Steven Nzonzi put them ahead on the night and 4-2 on aggregate - Carlos Cuellar flicked on a corner from Stewart Downing and Nzonzi turned the ball past Robinson under pressure from Richard Dunne.

Three minutes later Villa struck again with a shot from Milner deflected by the chest of Agbonlahor past a stranded Robinson.

Villa were now rampant and after 62 minutes Blackburn cracked again as Heskey beat the offside trap after collecting a pass from Milner and he coolly rounded Robinson before netting.

Olsson made it 5-3 with a spectacular scissor-kick from Gael Givet's centre, before Robinson turned aside a header from Heskey and came off his line to deny Agbonlahor.

With six minutes remaining Emerton's volley crept under the body of a partially unsighted Guzan to further eat into Villa's lead - but Young had the final say in injury-time as he curled the ball wide of Robinson into the corner of the net.

Defender Richard Dunne admitted Aston Villa's gameplan went out of the window as they overcame Blackburn in a crazy Carling Cup semi-final.

Leading 1-0 from the first leg, Villa hoped to close out the tie and make serene progress to Wembley. But they were required to come from 2-0 down on the night to win 6-4 - 7-4 on aggregate - as the game swung back and forth at Villa Park.

Dunne said: "It was a good game to watch, I suppose, but we came into it trying to keep it tight and make sure they didn't score and we went 2-0 down. It certainly wasn't the plan but we never started playing so we deserved it.

"Thankfully after that we picked up, kept the ball a bit and got ourselves back level and in the end we went on to win comfortably, without really killing them off.'

Midfielder James Milner, who scored Villa's second goal from the spot, added on BBC1: "We started very poorly and that put us under a lot of pressure but credit to the lads, we battled back, we achieved the objective and we're going to Wembley.

"Obviously getting to a final's fantastic, we're moving forward. The fans were fantastic tonight, I don't know what they were thinking when we were 2-0 down but they kept shouting and it's great for them and for us as a football club - and hopefully we can go and win it.'

Villa felt they were denied two clear penalties at Ewood Park last week, and manager Martin O'Neill said: "We could have been going into this game with a pretty comfortable lead - having said that, if we had been five up before the game we might have been in trouble.

"I'm absolutely delighted for the players - we started very nervously indeed and conceded a couple of really soft goals but came roaring back into the game. It was on a knife-edge, when they scored the second goal Wembley seemed a fair distance away.

"There was a bit of nervousness, the only idea we had was to go and try and score a goal. We thought if we could get one, maybe two, goals in the game it might be enough. As it was we scored six and still weren't sure!'

Aston Villa Guzan, Cuellar, Dunne, Collins, Warnock, Petrov, Milner, Downing (Sidwell 86), Ashley Young, Agbonlahor, Heskey.
Subs Not Used: Friedel, Luke Young, Albrighton, Delfouneso, Delph, Beye.

Booked: Milner, Heskey.

Goals: Warnock 30, Milner 40 pen, Nzonzi 53 og, Agbonlahor 58, Heskey 62, Ashley Young 90.

Blackburn Robinson, Chimbonda, Samba, Nelsen, Givet, Emerton, Nzonzi (Reid 61), Pedersen, Olsson, Dunn (McCarthy 56), Kalinic (Di Santo 72).
Subs Not Used: Brown, Andrews, Hoilett, Salgado.

Sent Off: Samba (39).

Booked: Givet.

Goals: Kalinic 10, 26, Olsson 63, Emerton 84.

Att: 40,406

Ref: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire).