MARK Delaney is adamant that Aston Villa's Carling Cup dream is not over despite their 5-2 defeat at the Reebok.

The Villa defender admitted that he was stunned by Wanderers' performance in Wednesday night's semi-final first leg.

Manager David O'Leary was furious with his side's defending as the Whites built up a commanding lead to take into the return at Villa Park on Tuesday night.

But Wales international Delaney believes that Villa can recover the deficit.

"We've just got to throw caution to the wind and go for it," he told his club's official website.

"We need to go at them from the start. The manager knows that and I'm sure he'll pick a team to do that.

"I'm hoping the boss really goes for it, to give a 30,000-plus crowd something to shout about.

"The tie isn't over yet. We could have scored a couple more goals and that's what we've got to look to."

"I'm sure they'll sit behind the ball on Tuesday, but if we approach it in the right manner, then I'm sure we can still get something out of it."

Delaney said that the first-leg hammering had left him stunned.

"I've never experienced anything like it before. The manager called our defending 'disgraceful' and they scored five, so we have to agree.

"On the night our two centre-halves were all over the place. Olof Mellberg left the field with six stitches and Dion Dublin has said it was the toughest game he's had in a while."