"I was hoping we could win, but I was delighted with the lads," said the Villa boss after the 1-1 draw.
"I thought our goalkeeper played very well.
"He is starting to command his area, looking strong and he did really well today, making some good saves,"
"When you come to a ground like this where they're a very attacking minded team, you need your defence to be solid, and I thought Dion was immense.
"You need your goalkeeper to do well and you're going to be asked questions and he answered them very well.
"It was very disappointing to lose the goal right on half-time, but we came back out in the second half and we dug in."