Dave Woodhall watches Villa go down to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final.
No matter what they might say about the League Cup and its relevance or otherwise, 89 sets of supporters would have swapped places with us on Sunday morning. The Villa were playing in a Wembley final and as I never tire of saying, if that’s not important then football has sold way more of its soul than I ever thought possible.
Having said that, though, I thought the build-up to the game both in the days leading up to it and around Wembley itself was the most low-key I can 
Dean Smith made the changes he’d said he would, reverting to four at the back and bringing in Ahmed Elmohamady. The team seemed to respond and started off brightly before City got on top and their first goal after twenty minutes was a bit too predictable. Ten minutes later a corner that never was put them two up and the feared humiliating defeat looked likely.
But, and this is the significant thing, Villa re-grouped, re-doubled their efforts and as the first half was winding down Anwar El Ghazi’s cross found the head of Mbwana Samatta and from there the back of the net.
If we’re being honest, the second half was pretty much one-way traffic for most of the time. City passed the ball around with what can only be called the arrogance that comes from every player knowing what he has to do and the supreme confidence of being able to do it. Villa, meanwhile, chased a lot of shadows.
But, there was still only a goal between the sides and while City may have had a ludicrously high amount of possession and shots, little of either counted for much. Villa’s defence, rightly criticised so often this season, copef well and Orjan Nyland didn’t have much to do.
Caution was naturally thrown to the wind as the game wore on and in the dying minutes Bjorn Engels’ header was pushed onto the post. That was the closest Villa got to an equaliser and the players’ reactions at the final whistle told the full story of the afternoon. Villa’s slumped to the floor, exhausted with the effort, while City’s array of Galacticos were grateful to have got through a far harder test than anyone could have realistically imagined.
Jack Grealish had a quiet game by his standards, feeling perhaps the pressure of expectation as well as a niggling injury that seemed to hamper him for much of the second half. Douglas Luiz played further forward than of late and his influence was seen all over the pitch, while Samatta continues to show massive potential. The rest gave everything, which was all that could have been asked of them. The reaction of the Villa supporters was evidence of that.
On a weekend of shocks in the league it was perhaps too much to hope that one more could take place, particularly on such a stage and with the important decisions going the expected way.
And so back to the mundanity of battling to avoid relegation. A gallant loser might still be a loser, although there was much to be taken from the afternoon. Villa may not be able to match the ability of a side that’s taken ten years and almost a billion pounds to build, but they more than matched them for effort. Do that in the remaining cup finals this season and all is far from lost.