Bolton 5 Aston Villa 2
Jay-Jay Okocha gave the Bolton supporters a farewell performance to remember before departing for the African Nations Cup.
The Nigerian playmaker is expected to be away for a month and any side in the land would miss someone of his ability and class. Okocha scored twice - his second was outstanding - as Bolton gained the advantage from this Carling Cup semi-final first leg.
It was an enthralling match with Bolton 3-0 ahead after just 17 minutes before Villa staged a marvellous recovery.
Okocha's decision to delay his departure was a major boost for the team going into this game. He opened the scoring after two minutes when his 20-yard free-kick wrong-footed goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen after Kevin Nolan had been nudged off the ball.
Youri Djorkaeff then tested Sorensen before Nolan added a second goal for the home side in the ninth minute, carving a path through the Villa defence before rifling a shot beyond Sorensen.
Bolton kept up the pressure and Giannakopoulos added a third goal with a superb overhead kick after Kevin Davies had flicked the ball on.
Villa, however, pulled a goal back in the 20th minute when Juan Pablo Angel showed good close control on the right before floating an ambitious right-footed effort over Jussi Jaaskelainen and into the far corner of the net.
Angel's sixth goal of the competition sparked Villa into life and they began to find their rhythm but they had to wait until after the interval for a second.
Bolton failed to clear their lines following a good move involving Hendrie and Whittingham. Vassell's close range shot struck Angel on the left leg and beat Sorensen - although the home fans were fuming as the Colombian was in an offside position.
Bolton were looking rattled and Angel almost levelled the scores with a clever free-kick which tested Jaaskelainen in the 62nd minute.
Emerson Thome got on the end of a Djorkaeff free-kick only to head over the top, before fellow central defender Bruno N'Gotty made it 4-2 in the 74th minute with a towering header from Djorkaeff's corner.
Lee Hendrie got a touch on the line - but could not prevent the ball finding the net. Vassell, who had been struggling with injury, was replaced in the 78th minute by Marcus Allback - and two minutes later Okocha got his second goal of the night with a superb free-kick from the left.
The Nigerian bent the ball with the outside of his boot - yet it still carried enough power to beat a stunned Sorensen. Okocha will miss the second leg as he is taking care of business with his country in Tunisia.
But Bolton should have done enough to clinch a place in the final against either Middlesbrough or Arsenal.