Matt Lowton has leapt to the defence of captain Ciaran Clark.

Clark's error late in the first-half let in Carlos Tevez for the only goal in the defeat to Man City.

Lowton believes strongly that, while the pain of the blunder will sting for a few days, Clark will bounce back strongly in the coming weeks.

There are ten huge games for Villa to play now as they look to surge up the top-flight table.

Lowton thinks Clark will be fully focused on those massive matches and put the irksome error behind him.

He said: "Ciaran will lose a bit of sleep. It's really unfortunate for him but he's been fantastic all season.

"He's been made captain which shows what a good player he is and how mature he is.

"It's a mistake. It happens to everyone.

"The unfortunate thing is when it happens to a centre-half it generally ends up in a goal against a team as good as Man City.

"But he will bounce back. He's very mature.

"He will lose a bit of sleep as I said but when he's back in training, he will be working hard in order to rectify his mistake."

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