Dean Smith: Attitude, application and teamwork key to Aston Villa win
Dean Smith praised Villa’s “attitude, application and teamwork” after they cruised past Brighton to set up a Carabao Cup clash with Wolves.
Goals from Jota, Conor Hourihane and Jack Grealish saw Villa claim a comfortable 3-1 victory on the south coast, against a Seagulls team made up mainly of teenagers.
It saw Villa reach the fourth round of the competition for only the second time in seven seasons and Smith said: “I asked the the players for a performance. We got their team sheet and we could see it was a youthful team.
“As a Villa supporter I have seen teams who have come unstuck in situations like that, whether it is against a youthful team or a lower league team.
“The words I said to them were attitude, application and teamwork and I thought we got that in abundance. We did it right.
“I told them not to get complacent in what they do. This club has a proud history in all competitions. We have won this one five times and the FA Cup seven times.
“You have seen the numbers of fans who travelled down from Birmingham for the game. They deserved our respect and we gave it that tonight.”
Brighton’s team featured six teenagers, including five making their senior debut.
Jota opened the scoring with his first goal for Villa midway through the opening half, with Hourihane getting his third in the competition before the break.
Haydon Roberts then headed home for the hosts to briefly make things interesting before Grealish came off the bench to secure the victory.
Smith added: “I’m disappointed we did not score more goals. I think Keinan Davis deserved a goal, Trezeguet deserved a goal and John McGinn probably deserved one.
"Our aim is to win this competition. Everyone enters a competition to do that. The history of this cup for our football club is very good and we won't take it likely.”
