Sam Allardyce refused to blame a series of refused penalty appeals for Rovers' first defeat in 10 games.

Goals from James Milner and Gabriel Agbonlahor secured the points for Martin O'Neill's side, as Rovers failed to find their form from recent weeks.

However, things could have been very different, had Benni McCarthy been awarded a penalty following a foul by Gareth Barry in the first half, or had Zat Knight been penalised on two occasions after the break.

But Big Sam said: "I didn't see anything blatant. Sometimes they can go for you and sometimes they can go against you.

"But that wasn't the reason why we lost. I think Villa were too good for us today - the best team we've played so far.

"We were going to have to be at our best to get anything out of today. They are very good in possession and exceptionally good out of possession.

"But we kept going and kept plugging away, until they nicked a fortunate goal right at the end."