As Emiliano Buendía wheeled towards the nearest corner clenching his fists in celebration, in front of the bank of 1,848 travelling Aston Villa supporters, it was the kind of cathartic moment he longed for on the darker days of his recovery from an anterior cruciate ligament knee injury. Buendía, captaining a youthful Villa side, headed in the opening goal to help them into the lead before Jhon Durán continued his extraordinary goalscoring run with his fifth goal of the season, this on his first start of the campaign.

For Buendia, these are all milestones. He scored twice at Fleetwood in an EFL Trophy win last month and on his first senior start for 16 months paved the way to the Carabao Cup fourth round. Garath McCleary provided a couple of scares, twice going close, before Declan Skura was penalised for felling Durán in the box, presenting the Villa striker with the chance to double their lead and seal victory.