NEIL McDonald hailed Blackburn’s' 'courageous' Carling Cup heroes after they dumped out Chelsea on penalties to book a semi-final spot with Aston Villa.

On a night of high drama at Ewood Park, Rovers beat the Blues 4-3 on spot-kicks after the six-goal tie finished level at the end of extra-time.

Paul Robinson saved the decisive fifth penalty from Gael Kakuta after the Rovers goalkeeper had earlier been to blame for allowing Paulo Ferreira to snatch a last-gasp Chelsea equaliser.

Rovers will now face Villa in the semi-finals, with the first leg at Ewood Park, while Manchester United meet fierce rivals Manchester City.

“We'll enjoy the moment because it's a fantastic moment to beat a top four team and being in the semi-final of a major cup,” said Rovers assistant boss McDonald, taking charge for the last time before Allardyce resumes his place in the dugout.

“I've spoken to Sam and he's obviously very, very happy. But I'll probably have a heart attack if we have another game like that!”

McDonald added: “It's always great when it goes right to the wire and you get through on penalties.

“We should really have killed it off before then and that's the only disappointment on the night - that we've had chances to score the fourth goal and we haven't took that.”

Two-goal Nikola Kalinic gave Blackburn a dream start in the ninth minute with his first Rovers strike from open play.

A much-changed Chelsea stormed back after the half-time interval as quickfire goals from Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou put the Londoners ahead.

But, on a passionate night at Ewood, Rovers equalised when Croat Kalinic got the faintest of flicks from Brett Emerton's cross.

Blackburn looked to have booked their semi-final ticket through Benni McCarthy's penalty in extra-time.

But Ferreira sent the tie to penalties with a dramatic last-gasp leveller.

McDonald said: “When you play a top-four team, you know they will never give in and if they get half a chance they will stick it in the back of the net.

“We showed tremendous character considering that we were feeling sorry for ourselves for conceding the last minute goal.

“We showed huge courage to get through on penalties.

“Paul (Robinson) has missed the punch at the end, but he's definitely made up for that with two fantastic penalty saves.

“For him to experience that right at the end of extra-time and pull himself together to make two saves was fantastic."

He added: “I hope they (Chelsea) regret making that many changes.

“Our home form suggests they should have perhaps played a stronger team, but that's up to their manager to pick and choose.

“We are very pleased with the team we played and here we are in the next round which is great.”