Wanderers were united today in refusing to let any individual player carry the can for their FA Cup heartbreak. Dean Holdsworth, Allan Johnston and Michael Johansen left Wembley yesterday knowing they had the chances to have secured a place in the final on May 20.

Record signing Holdsworth missed a sitter nine minutes from the end of extra time while the two wide men had their spot-kicks saved before Dion Dublin clinched a 4-1 penalty shoot-out victory for Villa.

But the message from the Reebok camp was unanimous - no semi-final scapegoats!

"I don't attribute any blame to anybody," Sam Allardyce said as he spoke with pride of the performance of his team which was more than a match for John Gregory's Premiership high-fliers for 120 minutes.

"If you were going to back anyone you would have backed Deano but it wasn't to be. He was a brave man to take the first penalty." Holdsworth was the only Bolton player to score in the dramatic shoot-out which saw Villa keeper David James save from Johnston and Johansen. Steve Stone, Lee Hendrie and Gareth Barry scored Villa's first three before Dublin, who broke his neck in a career-threatening injury 14 weeks ago, delivered the fateful blow.

"The miss was a big disappointment," Holdsworth admitted, "but I was over the moon when I scored the penalty.

"I'm proud of what I've done, as all the lads are. I couldn't have done any more. I'm disappointed but I'm a strong character and I'll get through it.

"I want to bounce back and I want to bounce back for Bolton Wanderers. As for the two lads who had their penalties saved, at least they had the bottle to step up and take them.

"And it's not easy. The goal gets smaller and smaller when you walk up in front of all those fans." Johansen, who will return to Denmark in the summer after four seasons in Bolton, said Wanderers should have had the game sewn up before the penalty shoot-out but sportingly accepted his share of the responsibility. "There were chances missed but it was me who missed the penalty.

"I saw Allan Johnston place his and I thought, if I have to beat this guy, I'll have to strike the ball well, which I think I did. But he saved it.

"I want to do the best I can for this club before I leave and I want to end on a high. I don't want to end with bad memories of missing a penalty in a semi-final. It will take a few days to get over the disappointment but that is what we are going to have to do."

Assistant manager Phil Brown insisted: "The lads who missed the penalties don't need to take any extra stick.

"Some days you can plan everything right but, if lady luck's not on your side, it won't go for you. The lads performed heroically and fully deserved to go through." Mike Whitlow, who gathered his players together in a huddle at the end of the game before they saluted the fans, said: "Mark Fish and I just told the rest of the lads that we could hold our heads high. Every single one of us has worked hard for each other.

"We win together, we lose together.

"We've let the fans down big-style twice but not this time. The supporters can go home proud and pleased with our performaance. We'll give it our best shot in the remaining league games and see if we can make the play-offs.

"If not, it won't be for the want of trying.

"There's a few tears been shed because it takes a long time and a lot of hard work to get this far ... and it might never happen again."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.