Dean Smith confident the ghosts of last year's play-off heartbreak won't return to haunt Aston Villa

A club record 10 league wins on the spin has seen them cement a top-six finish for the second year running.

Villa missed out on promotion by a whisker when they beaten by Fulham at Wembley 12 months ago and many members of the team remain at the club.

But Smith, who replaced Steve Bruce in the Villa Park hotseat last October, believes those memories have now been put to bed.

The boss said: “Last year is gone. We all know what happened. There is a new set of players here who did not experience that.

“The newness of that will wipe out the memories of the ones who were there last time.”

Villa’s winning run has seen them charge back into contention and was sparked in part by Smith “letting rip” at his team at half-time during February’s game at Stoke.

Trailing 1-0 at the break, Villa fought back to draw 1-1 and have won every game since, helped by the return of Jack Grealish from injury the following week.

Smith said: “I don’t go in the dressing room very often and let rip so it probably has an effect when I do.

“I thought we were playing more as individuals than a team and needed to get back together. The message got across, but there’s thousands of little messages that make the big difference.”

He continued: “We’d had spells where we were playing as a team, it was just that half against Stoke.

“For me it felt there were a few too many arms going up when balls were being given away.

“It was just one of those spontaneous moments when they needed a bit of a reminder.

“One of the things we push throughout the club is to be a good team mate. If you can do that then the team has a good chance.”