Aston Villa’s Premier League Cup campaign ended in defeat against Brentford on Friday night.
Ryan Trevitt netted the opening goal for the Bees after 20 minutes, with Yehor Yarmoliuk doubling their advantage before half-time.
The Young Lions continued to fight, and they struck back via Hayden Lindley’s deflected shot on 74 minutes.
A frenetic period of play saw Alex Gilbert convert a penalty for the hosts before Declan Frith pulled one back to make it 3-2 shortly after.
The result sees Villa end the group stage bottom of Group D with four points from six games.
Villa came into the game knowing their chances of progressing in the competition had been extinguished after three defeats from their first five group games.
The Bees triumphed 3-1 in the reverse fixture and they made most of the early running before taking the lead after 20 minutes.
Goalkeeper Oliwier Zych was left with no chance as Trevitt swept home Gilbert’s corner at the near post.
Arjan Raikhy was a prominent figure as Villa attempted to muster a comeback, but they fell further behind with 32 minutes on the clock.
Yarmoliuk intercepted a pass from Zych and headed for goal before cooly slotting a low shot past the ‘keeper.
Villa’s response to the setback was positive, and the visitors almost pulled a goal back when Seb Revan’s first-time effort was superbly saved by Matthew Cox.
Having had the half-time break to regroup, the away side came out with renewed attacking intent and struck the post shortly after the restart via Lamare Bogarde’s drive.
Villa did find the back of the net with just over 15 minutes to play when Lindley’s shot from outside of the box was deflected past Cox.
The goal kicked off an action-packed five-minute spell that saw three goals, with Brentford next to strike.
Trevitt was felled in the box, allowing Gilbert to step up and score the penalty to quickly restore his side’s two-goal lead.
A crazy passage of play continued when Villa reignited their hopes of salvaging something from the game with Declan Frith’s close-range finish on 79 minutes.
The final ten minutes were frenzied as the ball travelled from end-to-end, but Villa couldn’t find an equaliser as their Premier League Cup campaign ended in defeat.
Photos courtesy of Mark Fuller/obfcpics.co.uk.
Aston Villa: Zych, Ealing, McDowell (Swinkels ‘64), A.O’Reilly (Timson '83), Revan, Lindley, Raikhy, Bogarde (Mitchell '85), T.O’Reilly, Afoka, Frith.
