Unai Emery hails Aston Villa mentality after FA Cup win and addresses Jhon Duran question

Matty Cash’s deflected 87th minute strike earned them a first win in the competition since 2016 as they finally broke the resistance of their stubborn Championship opponents.

Villa have now scored in the 85th minute or later in four of their last five matches.

Emery said: “The players were mature and confident. The experiences we had in the matches before were very good for the players and for us.

“I am trying to work with the players on how we improve our mentality and how we can face, in 90 minutes, different moments. How we can be patient when the opponent is successful in imposing their idea on us.

“Tonight was a good experience as well, winning at the last moment. We never stopped being calm.”

Middlesbrough goalkeeper Tom Glovert twice denied Jhon Duran in the first half and then pulled off a brilliant save from John McGinn after the break. Ezri Konsa also hit the post for the visitors, who saw Alex Moreno then volley a great chance over the bar.

The hosts only forced Emi Martinez into one serious save but carried a threat during the second half as the match opened up.

Cash’s goal, which took a big deflection off Emmanuel Lath to beat Glover, ended a run of eight straight Cup defeats for Villa.

Emery continued: "We were remembering before the match the past few years we have not qualified past the third round.

"But today we played seriously for 90 minutes with a game plan and we controlled the game a lot.

"We created not very clear chances, but in the second half we created very good chances and they had some good attacks.

"We were keeping in our mind the game plan and our passions. At the end we won and more or less I think we deserved it."

Duran started up front following more speculation linking him with a possible move to Italy.

Asked about the striker’s situation after the game, Emery replied: “I am going to speak about the players who are here now and I don’t want to change nothing.”