Dean Smith: Wolves result a 'travesty'

Smith admitted he was struggling to process the final 15 minutes of the match, during which Wolves scored three times to snatch a remarkable 3-2 victory.

Goals from Danny Ings and John McGinn appeared to have Villa in control and cruising but they were stung as Romain Saiss, Conor Coady and Ruben Neves, via a deflected 95th minute free-kick netted for the visitors.

Smith said: “I am still trying to process it. We were comfortable and it is a travesty we have lost the game.

“Other than when Adama Traore went on a run in the first half they never looked like they were going to score. They have three corners they have put in the box and we have actually got the first contact. It was the second phase we went to sleep a bit.

“Whether it was a lack of concentration I don’t know. It certainly didn’t feel like there was a momentum shift. There was no tactical change in the game. It was the fact they were brighter at second phase set pieces and scored goals from that.”

Smith revealed he and his coaching team had rewatched the chaotic finale before he spoke to the press.

Villa’s players were left stunned but the boss promised they will bounce back.

He said: “It was pretty much silence (in the dressing room). We are in on Sunday so we will review it and we have to put it to bed.

“But it is certainly three points we have thrown away. I said before Wolves are a good team but we limited them to next to nothing. At 2-0 up it looked like we would score the next goal and win comfortably.

“I am still trying to process what happened but I will and we will move on.

“The performance was good. Unfortunately, we didn’t defend our box well enough in the final 10 minutes.

“I thought we lacked a little bit of composure. There were a couple of shoddy clearances. But you have to defend your box better.”