Steven Gerrard was delighted to secure Aston Villa’s progress in the Carabao Cup courtesy of a 4-1 triumph at Bolton Wanderers.
Villa fell behind midway through the first half but struck back via Douglas Luiz to level matters at the break, before second-half goals from Danny Ings, Lucas Digne and substitute Leon Bailey wrapped up victory.
It ensured Villa’s safe progression to the Round 3 draw.
“That’s what we wanted, we wanted to be in the hat,” Gerrard told VillaTV. “We’re really excited and looking forward to the draw.
“We came here extremely motivated.
“It was a bit of a setback going a goal behind. I thought the game was a little bit too much end-to-end for our liking, we wanted more pockets of control.
“But I thought they worked extremely hard and played at an intensity, they tried to stay with us, and they did for large parts of the first half.
“I think our fitness and our quality in the second half told, and my senior players drove the standards.
“I’m really happy with the result and the outcome of the game.”
Gerrard named a strong side for the tie against the League One outfit at the University of Bolton Stadium.
And the Villa head coach hailed the 5,179-strong Villa supporters who made the trip north, as he targets progression in the cup competition.
“The fans showed their intent, they travelled here in their numbers, they got behind the team and showed me and us how important it is to them,” Gerrard added.
“And that’s the reason why I wanted to go strong.
“I didn’t think it was necessary to go wholesale (changes), this is an important competition for us and we want to do as well as we can in it.”
