Aitken took over the after match duties from manager David O’Leary after they had won through the next round of the competition and admitted it was all about getting through to the next round.
“It was a case of job well done,” he said. “We went into the game with the one aim of a place in the next round and that is what we have got. I thought it was a good, disciplined performance against a side that got a lot of men behind the ball, at times they played with nine behind the ball, and we had to be patient and work hard for our chances.
“We got the goal with a great move and Kevin is the man you want in those situations. It was well worked with a good finish. We would have liked to have scored more and we did have a few chances, but the one goal proved to be enough and we are in the hat.”
Steve Cotterill admitted that his side had to be cautious, particularly in the first half but thought we were somewhat unfortunate not to at least take the game to extra time.
“I thought we were unfortunate,” he claimed. “We could have got a draw with our second half performance. We played well in the second half but the first half was a little bit more tactical from us. We didn’t want to open the game up because we would have been picked off and we didn’t want Kev Phillips to have too many more chances.
“Overall it was a good cup tie, exciting with two passionate sets of supporters and it was everything a cup tie should be. The players and supporters did us proud but obviously we are disappointed to lose the game. Sometimes that finer bit of quality can kill you off and we had said that we could give them no chances. Unfortunately we gave the wrong person the chance.”
Speaking about the performances of Chris McCann and Keith Lowe who came in for Micah Hyde and John McGreal, Steve added, “I thought Chris was excellent. He hadn’t kicked a ball for us before this season and can still play in the youth team. He is a big bonus for us.
“Keith was excellent too.” He then joked, “John McGreal might struggle to get back in now.”
He ended by wishing Villa the best of luck in the competition. “We won last year, they won this year, so maybe next year it will be a draw, extra time and penalties.”