Aston Villa exited the EFL Trophy with a narrow defeat against Crawley Town on Tuesday night.
The hosts were two goals up after 15 minutes at Broadfield Stadium, thanks to strikes from Jack Roles and Kamarai Simon-Swyer.
The Young Lions showed great character to fight back and level the scores with a goal either side of half-time from Kobei Moore and Rico Richards respectively.
But it was Crawley who netted the winner via Roles after 54 minutes.
Villa headed into their final group game with two points from two matches, knowing that they needed a win to keep their hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages alive.
And they made a strong start in Sussex, firing the first shot of the match after two minutes when Omari Kellyman pulled an effort wide.
However, the League Two side went ahead shortly after when Roles received a pass from Ade Adeyemo and bent a shot into the top corner.
Richards led the away side’s response and saw a long-range effort parried over the crossbar by Corey Addai.
But Villa found themselves two down on 15 minutes as Swyer tapped home after good work from Adeyemo.
A few minutes before the break, the Young Lions halved the deficit when Richards found Moore after a mazy dribble, with the striker rounding Addai and poking the ball into an empty net.
Villa maintained their momentum after the restart and levelled the scores when Richards raced onto a Tommi O’Reilly through ball and lifted a shot over the goalkeeper.
Parity lasted only five minutes as Roles made his presence felt again, playing a neat one-two before slotting past Filip Marschall.
The goal did little to deter the Villans, who went forward in search of another equaliser.
Richards saw a header saved and had a shot smothered by Addai as the visitors did their best go get back on terms.
But in the closing stages Villa were indebted to Marschall for making a fine save when one-on-one with Simon-Swyer to deny Town a fourth.
Aston Villa: Marschall, Barber (Ealing), Feeney, Smith, Chrisene (Munroe), Alcock (Teddy Rowe), Iroegbunam, T’O.Reilly, Richards, Kellyman (Broggio), Moore (Wilson).
Unused subs: Wright, Borland.
