Lambert hails Bent comeback

Aston Villa manager Paul Lambert has hailed striker Darren Bent after he scored in the club’s 2-1 win over Ipswich in the FA Cup on Saturday.

Bent has been sidelined with a hamstring injury in recent weeks and struggled to win a place in the club’s XI before that due to the good form of new signing Christian Benteke.

The 28-year-old grabbed the equaliser after Michael Chopra had opened the scoring at Villa Park, though, and Andreas Weimann added a second to secure their safe passage into the fourth round.

“That finish is Darren Bent down to a tee,” Lambert told reporters. “It was top class.

“His overall game was very good – his whole work ethic, the way he played. But his general game was very good.”

Bent had not scored since September 30, but has now bagged four goals in his last five appearances in the FA Cup.

Lambert will now have to decide whether to include Bent in his squad for the first leg of the club’s League Cup semi-final against Bradford on Tuesday.

“Considering he only really trained with us yesterday, it was a big, big effort from him,” Lambert said.

“We left out a few lads to give them a break and I was delighted with everyone that came in. I thought it was a massive effort.”