Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard felt his side gave themselves just the lift they needed as they came from behind to beat Bolton 4-1 in the Carabao Cup.
After a frustrating start to the season and a tough run of fixtures in the coming weeks, a cup shock at the University of Bolton Stadium on Tuesday could have made life uncomfortable for Villa and Gerrard.
Yet despite falling behind to their determined League One opponents, the Premier League outfit produced a strong performance to ease into the third round.
“You are always looking for the right reaction and response,” said Gerrard, thinking back to Saturday’s defeat at Crystal Palace. “The players and I know that the performance and result at the weekend were not good enough.
“We set them a challenge to qualify for the next round and put themselves in the best possible place for West Ham.
“That is a huge game for us now at the weekend but we can go there now with a bit more confidence and belief.
“We’re at home with our fans behind us and if we manage to achieve what we want to achieve, it will settle a few things down.”
Dion Charles gave Bolton a 24th-minute lead but Douglas Luiz levelled before the break when he curled in direct from a corner.
Villa then took a firm grip with a Danny Ings penalty after the striker had been felled by goalkeeper Joel Dixon, who was also at fault for Lucas Digne’s third. Leon Bailey wrapped up the win in the closing minutes.
“We expected Bolton to be extremely motivated,” said Gerrard, who took no chances with his team selection.
“We knew they would come out of the blocks really fast but I always believe in the quality we have got. We knew we would have big moments and 4-1 was a good reaction.”
Bolton manager Ian Evatt felt his team gave a good account of themselves.
Evatt said: “For 60 minutes we were right in the game and had them wobbled. We started great, really intense. We wanted to go toe to toe and I thought we did.
“You could see they were a team lacking in confidence but that set-piece gave them some belief back and their quality showed in the last 20 minutes. I think the scoreline flatters them a bit.”
