Villa extend Rotherham United's barren Championship away run

Without a win in 28 second-tier away games going into the fixture, they never looked like ending that run as they went down 2-0 in front of a crowd of nearly 28,000.

A first-half strike from Tammy Abraham and a late goal from Yannick Bolasie made the difference, although there was no shortage of honest endeavour  from the Millers in between.

Unchanged from Saturday’s win over Derby, they caused some uncomfortable moments for a Villa side which had won only one of its last six but lacked the quality in attacking areas to capitalise.

Paul Warne’s side were pressed back early on and it took a point blank save by Marek Rodak from Jonathan Kodjia to keep the scores level.

With only one win in six coming into this one, Villa’s defence had been under scrutiny and Rotherham nearly pierced it in the opening 20 minutes. Richie Towell shot just wide and then demanded a decent low save from Orjan Nyland and it took a good block by James Chester to deny Michael Smith from close in.

So much of Villa’s best work came through the £30 million rated Jack Grealish down the left and after a flurry of his searching crosses had gone unconverted, the opener came on 27 minutes. Grealish found Kodjia and he slipped the ball in behind a square defence for Abraham to guide the ball beyond the reach of Rodak.

The goal might have been expected to signal a Villa onslaught but it didn’t materialise, at least for the rest of the first half.

It was a similar story at the start of the second half, with both sides sloppy in possession.

The Millers threw on an extra forward in Jamie Proctor and the sub very nearly turned in an inviting centre from Will Vaulks. A good block denied Abraham at the other end as nerves increased among the home supporters.

As the matched ticked into the final ten minutes, Vaulks was prominent again with another good ball in that was met with a glancing header just wide from Richard Wood.

Villa finally put the match to bed on 82 minutes. Ahmed Elmohahady crossed and substitute Yannick Bolasie stooped to net with a diving header at the Holte End.

There was no way back after that.

Villa: Nyland, Elmohamady, Chester, Jedinak, Hutton, El Ghazi (Bolasie 72), Hourihane, McGinn, Grealish, Kodjia (Adomah 81), Abraham (Bree 76)

Millers: Rodak; Vyner, Ajayi, Wood, Mattock; Williams (Forde 76), Vaulks, Towell, Manning (Proctor 68), Vassell (Taylor 58); Smith

Referee: Andy Davies

Attendance: 27,991