Holders Aston Villa cruised into the Cup quarter-finals at the HKFC IP Global International Soccer Sevens on Saturday – knocking out arch rivals Birmingham City in the process. Villa – going for their third title in a row and fifth overall at the popular Hong Kong Football Club tournament – beat the Blues 1-0 in their final Pool C encounter. 

Midfielder Barry Bannan, last year’s Player of the Tournament, curled in the winner in the final minute, leaving Villa top of the pool with maximum points and relegating Birmingham to the secondary Plate competition.

Aston Villa’s Barry Bannan celebrates with teammate Andreas Weimann during Villa’s march to the Cup quarter-finals on the second day of the HKFC IP Global International Soccer Sevens on Saturday, May 30.

“A draw would have been sufficient because we’d already won the group but it’s always good to beat our local rivals,” said Villa youth academy director Bryan Jones. 

“It was a tremendous finish from Barry. As soon as he turned on the edge of the box I knew exactly where the ball was going. He’s an unbelievable talent.”

Jones’ team opened their title defence with a 2-0 win over Hong Kong side Citizen thanks to strikes from Ciaran Clark and Dominik Hofbauer.  They then came from behind to beat Singapore Cricket Club 3-1 with an equaliser from Andreas Weimann and a Bannan brace.

“We started slowly and weren’t quite happy with the first two performances but we kept the ball better in the third game and deserved the victory,” said Jones. 

Villa face a Cup quarter-final on Sunday against English non-league side Eastleigh FC, who lost 1-0 to Glasgow Celtic on their way to second spot in Pool D.

“It will be difficult,” predicted Jones. “Eastleigh played very well against Celtic, so we can’t be complacent. It will be a tough game.”

Celtic cruised into the Cup quarter-finals, winning their three games without conceding a goal. 

An impressive Glasgow Rangers side topped Pool A with three wins over Tuen Mun Progoal (2-0), Hong Kong Football Club (3-0) and Chengdu Blades 1-0).

The Australian U18s national team beat West Ham United 1-0 to win Pool B. That left West Ham to go through in second place, meaning they face a tough Cup quarter-final against Rangers.

In the Masters competition, the IP Global All Stars cruised into the Cup quarter-finals by topping Pool A. After Friday night’s opening 1-0 victory over Kowloon Cricket Club, ex-Scotland striker Gordon Durie set them on their way to a 3-0 victory over HKFC Veterans.

Former West Ham and Ipswich star Stuart Slater then scored with the last kick of the game to give the All Stars a 1-0 victory over Football For Life.

The All Stars – who also have former England internationals Des Walker, Rob Lee and Chris Powell in their line-up – will face GAC Blades, comprising ex-Sheffield United players, in the Cup quarter-finals.