Graham Taylor does not underestimate the importance of the Worthington Cup but agreed that the easy win over Luton Town was expected and the only significance was that Aston Villa moved into the third round.
Luton were outclassed in all departments and the ease with which Villa took their first-half goals through Ulises De la Cruz and Dion Dublin summed up how they were able to make comfortable progress.
In the second half Villa coasted home with Dublin obtaining his second goal in the 48th minute.
Villa maintained their lose one, win one sequence which Taylor is keen to break in an attempt to find some winning consistency.
Taylor did not underestimate Luton and showed them the respect of putting out his first choice eleven which contained only one change from the side which played at Sunderland. De la Cruz replaced the injured Mark Delaney and the Ecuadorian enjoyed one of his best games as he quickly demonstrated.
It only took Villa nine minutes to assert their authority with De la Cruz on the mark from close range.
JLloyd Samuel created the opening with a cross from the left which found Gareth Barry at the near post. Barry turned quickly and transferred the ball to the waiting De la Cruz to tap home from close range for his second goal since his close season move from Hibernian.
Following this rare Villa goal the Premiership club often toyed with their lowly opposition. Villa created plenty of pleasing moves but they still lacked a cutting edge to really put the tie out of Luton's reach in the first half.
However, Dublin added a second after 25 minutes that certainly made life very difficult for the Hatters.
Luton's limitations were clear to see and the only occasion that they posed any real threat occurred in the opening minutes when Chris Coyne hammered in a shot which was deflected just wide by Andy Fotiadis.
Villa effectively sealed the game three minutes into the second half. A header from Samuel was hit on the half volley by Dublin from 20 yards past a bemused Carl Emberson