SM
Man United vs. Bodo/Glimt: 9 hrs 57 mins
Upcoming predictions and previews
AV
EFL Cup | Fourth Round
Oct 1, 2020 at 7pm UK
Villa Park
SL

Aston Villa
0 - 1
Stoke


Davis (59'), Ramsey (65')
FT(HT: 0-1)
Vokes (26')

Aston Villa boss Dean Smith rues "missed opportunity" in EFL Cup

:Headline: Aston Villa boss Dean Smith rues 'missed opportunity' in EFL Cup: ID:416775: from db_amp
Sam Vokes' first-half header sent Stoke through to the quarter finals.

Boss Dean Smith admitted Aston Villa blew their chance after being knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Stoke.

Sam Vokes sent the Potters through to the quarter-finals as Villa's second-string suffered a 1-0 fourth-round defeat.

Henri Lansbury and Keinan Davis missed Villa's best chances as last season's beaten finalists failed to find a way past their Sky Bet Championship visitors.

Villa rested captain Jack Grealish with Smith making 11 changes, and they slipped up.

"It's a massive missed opportunity and I said that to the players. I don't often get into them at half-time but I did today because we were that poor in the first half," said Smith.

"With the tempo we played at it was a lacklustre first half and an awful performance. The first-half performance was way below the standards.

"We got rewarded (at Bristol City) last week and rightly so. What I expected was a similar performance but we were too lacklustre and made too many mistakes on the ball.

"There weren't too many surprises from Stoke, the biggest surprise was how slow we were on the ball."

Stoke edged the first half and grabbed the winner from their first serious attack of the game.

Jed Steer turned over Nick Powell's rising drive, and from Jordan Thompson's resulting corner Vokes glanced in after 26 minutes.

Stoke have kept six clean sheets in their opening seven games – including their 1-0 Carabao Cup win at Wolves – but benefitted from poor Villa finishing.

Lansbury blew a golden chance to level four minutes after Vokes' winner when he headed wide from five yards.

Just before the break Davis stabbed wide at the far post as Villa continued to stumble.

They improved after the break but Stoke could have doubled their lead only for Vokes to plant a free header wide.

Adam Davies saved from Anwar El Ghazi and Ollie Watkins and the Potters survived late pressure to book their spot in the last eight.

"It was a really good performance, I'm delighted. We handled the game really well," said boss Michael O'Neill

"It gives us a bit of confidence going into Sunday's game (against Birmingham)

"It's a nice situation to be in, we haven't got a lot to lose but they managed it really well.

"It's a good test for us to come to places like Villa and Wolves and keep clean sheets. The cup has been a very worthwhile competition for us because we have a big squad and we can utilise it.

"We had more of the play than we had against Wolves. We got ourselves ahead, the shape of the team was good and we handled it well."

amp_article__416775 : Database Data restored...  : 
last updated article - 2020-10-01 21:07:16:
html db last update - 2020-10-01 21:07:16 :

ex - 7200 : read : read cache amp html

Click here for more stories about Dean Smith

Click here for more stories about Aston Villa

Share this article now:
Recommended Next on SM
Premier League Table
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool1210112481631
2Manchester CityMan City127232217523
3Chelsea126422314922
4Arsenal126422112922
5Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton126422116522
6Tottenham HotspurSpurs1261527131419
7Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest125431513219
8Aston Villa125431919019
9Fulham125341717018
10Newcastle UnitedNewcastle125341313018
11Brentford125252222017
12Manchester UnitedMan Utd124441313016
13Bournemouth124351617-115
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham124351519-415
15Everton122551017-711
16Leicester CityLeicester122461523-810
17Wolverhampton WanderersWolves122372028-89
18Ipswich TownIpswich121651323-109
19Crystal Palace121561017-78
20Southampton121110924-154
Scroll for more - Tap for full version


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
AL
Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!

Loading ...

Failed to load data.



. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .