AND No.7, Aston Villa, will face... another relentless barrage of questions about the future of Darren Bent.

It said it all about Villa’s reasonably routine victory at plucky Bristol Rovers that Bent’s career prospects rather than the claret and blues’ FA Cup progress once again dominated the post-match news agenda.

But boss Alex McLeish provided precisely the response demanded of him by the Villa fans off the pitch, namely ‘Bent stays’, just as his team had done on the pitch with a 3-1 win.

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Barring the type of unthinkable last-gasp drama the Memorial Stadium witnessed on Saturday evening, Bent is going nowhere, other than into the fourth round with Villa, where they will travel to either Arsenal or Leeds.

It was remarkable really that the Bent saga should overshadow the professional performance of Villa, particularly after a match when the record signing was very much in the shadows of several team-mates.

Indeed, one cruel wag, clearly trying to keep the nonsensical rumours rolling, joked that Bent thought hardly touching the ball would prevent him from being cup-tied for a potential new club.

The quality of Marc Albrighton, Gabby Agbonlahor and Ciaran Clark’s goals eventually exposed the 74-place chasm between the clubs as Villa’s Premier class told.

Given the patchy, rugby-ruined surface at Rovers’ home and the three-division disparity of the opponents, this tie was never going to be played on a level playing field. At one stage a small hole even opened up in the turf, but by then McLeish’s top-flight favourites had already found the gaps.

Although they took time settling into their stride against the League Two strugglers, Villa were vindicated in going strong in a game they couldn’t afford to lose.

After gradually coming to terms with the unglamorous surroundings and a sell-out partisan crowd, the claret and blues gradually cranked up the tempo and the quality levels.

Even though Villa were not at their best, they, unsurprisingly, were still too quick and too slick for a managerless Bristol side in turmoil and just five points and five places off the bottom of the Football League.

The breakthrough goal on 35 minutes underlined the gulf in class, Stiliyan Petrov threading a measured pass inside the left-back for Albrighton to steer a shot expertly through the legs of goalkeeper Michael Poke and in.

Any Villa nerves, which were slightly frayed during Rovers’ bright start, were immediately settled, and the visitors could – and should – have taken a more convincing lead into their rather modest dressing room at half-time.