Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish bemoaned his side's luck as they fell to a 1-0 defeat at home to Manchester City.
Scot disappointed to end City clash empty-handed
Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish bemoaned his side's luck as they fell to a 1-0 defeat at home to Manchester City.
Joleon Lescott poked home the winner from close range although it needed a fine reflex stop from Joe Hart to deny Darren Bent a late leveller.
McLeish defended his side's tactics, as they defended deep for most of the game, and felt with a bit more luck they might have come away with a positive result.
Bad luck
"I thought the game plan was excellent but the players were unlucky," McLeish told
Sky Sports HD1.
"We're getting a lot of luck at the moment but it's all bad. Richard (Dunne) has hurt his shoulder, today we played young (Gary) Gardner in central midfield, we lost Ciaran Clark yesterday and he is going to be out for a few weeks with a knee ligament strain.
"I thought the guys gave us absolutely everything tonight you can't fault them, their effort was brilliant and the Villa fans stayed right behind us for the entire game and I thought we were very unlucky not to get anything.
"We must stop the errors, there is no doubt about that. We have had errors in recent games at home and we have been punished for every little error, so that's been a problem, so if we can cut that out.
"I thought tonight the discipline of the team was magnificent, one lapse in concentration but we are playing against a quality side who are vying with Manchester United for the title.
"You gave yourself a good account that's the least you can ask for and I felt the players were unlucky in the final moments."
Abysmal
The defeat was Villa's sixth home loss in the Premier League and McLeish admitted their home record is 'pretty abysmal'.
"Our home record is pretty abysmal," continued McLeish.
"I'm disappointed with that because I pride myself in my managerial career with home performances and the current one is not good enough.
"Performance level was pretty decent but the discipline and work-rate of the players was exemplary"
