Steve Bruce: Aston Villa were fortunate to avoid upset

It took the introduction of star men Jack Grealish and Jonathan Kodjia to spark Villa into life and finally see off the League Two Glovers.

Grealish played in Kodjia to tee up Conor Hourihane’s close-range winner, but only after Yeovil had a goal controversially disallowed and also missed a penalty.

Bruce said: “We know we didn’t do enough, we’re lucky to have gone through, we’re fortunate to say we’re fortunate and the goalkeeper’s had a great debut – apart from that, there’s not a lot else to say.

“We weren’t anywhere near the levels you need to be and the young boys who played as well found it difficult. That shows the difference playing real football in a cup tie to where they’ve been playing. We didn’t do enough first half, played as if it was a pre-season friendly and nearly got our backsides kicked.”

Reflecting on the impact of Grealish and Kodjia, Bruce added: “They changed the game for us – it was a great pass from Jack, who might’ve scored before when he hit the crossbar, but that little bit of quality got us through in the end.

After the match, Bruce reiterated his desire to strengthen Villa’s squad, with the loan window open until the end of the month.

“We’ve got plenty to work on and we know that so we will still be active in the next couple of weeks,” he said. “We can still activate the loan market and we have got one or two things in the fire.

“We’ll try and do that and strengthen because we’re still a bit short of where we should be.”