Tyrone Mings calls on Aston Villa to use Wembley pain as Premier League motivation

Dean Smith’s team were beaten 2-1 by Manchester City at Wembley and while defender Mings admitted players were left bitterly disappointed by the result, he also saw positives in their performance.

Villa, 19th in the table, face a huge battle to preserve their top-flight status and faced third-placed Leicester and fourth-placed Chelsea in their next two matches.

Dean Smith’s men have failed to beat any of the so-called top-six this season despite some impressive displays. They face 10 of the current top 12 in their final 11 matches.

Mings told Villa's official website: “We have to take this, and take the pain that we’re feeling at the moment, and use it as motivation to go and get a result against big teams.

“It seems like we’re playing really well, but we can’t seem to, in the league anyway, pick up points against the big six.

“No-one said we were favourites or gave us much chance of winning at Wembley.

“But I think everyone can be proud of their performance and we have to continue that consistency into the league.

“We’re bitterly disappointed, but there are positives we can take from it.”

“The performance, the belief, the spirit, the fight from everyone was tremendous.

Villa trailed 2-0 inside the opening half-an-hour against City but fought their way back into the match, reducing the deficit when Mbwana Samatta headed home just before half-time.

Mings’ central defensive partner Bjorn Engels then came close to forcing extra-time with a header which was pushed on to the post by City keeper Claudio Bravo before being hacked clear.

Engels, who was playing alongside Mings in a four-man defence for the first time in nearly four months, said: “I didn’t even see the ball coming because Kyle Walker had his hand up in the air, so it was difficult to see it.

“But the moment I touched it, I thought it was a goal. It was a brilliant save.

“We had to be mentally strong after going two behind after half an hour against one of the best teams in the world.

“We got back in the game and came close to equalising, so I felt we were unlucky.

“If we can take this performance into our league games, I think we will be fine with the squad that we have here.”