Dean Smith said he won’t be too hard on his Aston Villa players after they conceded in the final minute of Friday’s draw with Newcastle United.
The head coach has seen his team keep 14 clean sheets this season and their defensive resilience shone through for most of the match on Tyneside.
And after Jamaal Lascelles equalised in the 94th minute, Smith felt there had been little to separate the sides.
“When you’re a goal up with four minutes to go, you’re disappointed, naturally,” he said.
“We didn’t deserve to win the game over the 94 minutes. It wasn’t a game for the purists, it was a bit of an ugly game with not many completed passes and not many clear-cut chances.
“They probably had the better chances, but when you score a goal like we did in the 90th minute you should go and see it out.
“To be fair to the boys, I can't be too hard on them because they have done for most of the season.”
Both teams struggled to find their flow at the attacking end of the pitch, with neither goalkeeper having too many saves to make.
Goals have been hard to come by for Villa in recent matches, but Smith has faith in his squad.
He said: “It’s always a concern when you’re not creating chances. There haven’t been too many games where we haven’t created big chances.
“Tonight was just a very scrappy game. There weren’t many big chances all game. We played Sheffield United a couple of games ago and got beat having created the big chances in the game.
“We’ve got good enough players to go and score goals. We’ve got a few at the moment who are a bit short of confidence with no rhythm. That seems to be across the league at the moment.”
