SMITH: ‘WE’LL BEAT DROP’

DEAN SMITH praised his Aston Villa players after their Wembley heartbreak – and insisted it proved they can stay up.

Villa refused to buckle and Bjorn Engels was denied a last-gasp equaliser by Manchester City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo as they nearly took it to extra time.

The Villa boss (above) said: “We had a huddle at the end and I could see they don’t need an awful lot. They will wake up tomorrow and have an awful lot of pride. That is the standard we have to be.

“City are one of the top teams in the world but we came here to win. Now our concentration goes to the Premier League. You can’t hide from the fact that we are in the bottom three.

“But we will take heart from this performance. If we play like this we will get out of the relegation places.

“I told them how proud of them I was. We had to defend stoutly at times but there was never a backward step and that pleased me more than anything.”