Aston Villa 1-0 HŠK Zrinjski

John McGinn sent Villa Park wild with a stoppage time winner as Aston Villa overcame HŠK Zrinjski in the Europa Conference League at Villa Park on Thursday night.

The skipper headed home a cross from Matty Cash in the 95^th minute before running off to celebrate in front of a jubilant Holte End.

The goal was reward for a dominant second half performance that saw several Villans denied by visiting goalkeeper Marko Marić.

Victory in a European group game for the first time since 2008 earns Villa their first points of Group E ahead of a trip to AZ Alkmaar later this month.

The champions of Bosnia and Herzegovina upset AZ Alkmaar in their opening group fixture, but they were quickly under pressure from a Villa team desperate to bounce back after a 3-2 loss to Legia Warszawa.

Nicolò Zaniolo had a vicious volley blocked before another effort from the Italian was deflected wide, with Lucas Digne also seeing a shot blocked as the visitors defended for their lives early on.

But the team in gold served notice of their attacking threat on 15 minutes, and they would have been ahead had Emi Martinez not produced a tremendous save from Nemanja Bilbija’s close-range shot.

Mario Tičinović sent a shot sailing into the Holte End as the away side grew in confidence, with Villa struggling to penetrate their stubborn defence at the other end.

Five minutes remained in the first half when Zaniolo lit up B6 with an outrageous overhead kick that flew towards goal before being parried clear by Marić.

Youri Tielemans then tested the Zrinjski goalkeeper with an effort from range before the first half was brought to a close with the game goalless.

Cash, Douglas Luiz and Saturday’s hat-trick hero Ollie Watkins were sent on at half-time, and the latter was immediately into the action, floating in a cross that Diego Carlos headed wide.

A major moment in the match arrived on 54 minutes when Villa were awarded a penalty. However, referee Urs Schnyder overturned the decision after watching on the monitor as Watkins’ goalbound header struck the face of Slobodan Jakovljevic before rebounding onto his arm.

Clement Lenglet and Carlos tested Maric with headers and Zaniolo again came close to finding the net as Zrinjski sat back and fought off wave after wave of Villa attack.

Tielemans and Ezri Konsa were the next players in claret and blue to be frustrated by Maric before the game ticked in the final 15 minutes.

The game was being played exclusively in the Zrinjski half, but the finishing touch was missing as the board was raised showing six minutes of stoppage time.

Leon Bailey, Watkins and Luiz all fired goalwards in the time that remained before the moment Villa Park had been waiting for finally arrived with less than two minutes left.

Cash advanced down the right before sending a cross onto the head of McGinn, who glanced it into the far corner to send the stadium into raptures.