A second string Villa side toils to an uninspired victory at home to League Two Hereford in the second round of the League Cup as Alex McLeish already faces loud demands to up the attacking tempo of his teams.

Eric Lichaj scores his first goal in a Villa shirt on his 9th appearance (7 Starts) to make it W5 D2 L2, 1 Goal and 2 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Andreas Weimann makes his first appearance for a year due to injury to make it 3 substitute appearances, W2 D1 L0 and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Chris Herd makes his first appearance for five months and first under Alex McLeish to make it 8 appearances in a Villa shirt (3 Starts), W3 D1 L4 so far in his Villa career.

Midfielder Jean Makoun plays first game in 4 months and first under Alex McLeish in what is his 8th and final appearance for Villa aged 28 before moving on to Stade Rennais for a fee of £2,700,000 in July 2013. Former manager Gérard Houllier had brought Makoun to the club just 7 months before his final game spending £5,580,000 on the player who frankly looked completely out of his depth in English football regardless of the standard of opposition, and whose sole contribution was the regularity with which he accumulated cards. Makoun would leave with a record of W3 D3 L2, 3 Bookings and 1 Red Card.

Right back Habib Bèye, makes his first appearance in 13 months, his first under Alex McLeish and his final in a Villa shirt. Bèye, who was an eyebrow raising signing under Martin O'Neill had looked well below the necessary standard before being placed on Gérard Houllier's infamous 'bomb squad' of first team players not to be considered for duty during 2010-11. Bèye, 34, was released by Villa before subsequently joining Doncaster Rovers with whom he had spent a loan spell. Bèye had been bought by Martin O’Neill for £2,610,000 in 2009. Bèye left with a record of W8 D3 L7, 1 Assist, 3 Bookings and 1 Red Card across his 3 seasons with the club and, despite having spent previous seasons in English football with Newcastle, never looked of sufficient standard to play in the top flight.

Marc Albrighton contributes his 15th goal involvement in a Villa shirt on his 26th start (44 Appearances) to make it W17 D11 L16, 6 Goals, 9 Assists, 4 Bookings and 1 Red Card so far in his Villa career.

Stephen Ireland makes his 15th appearance in a Villa shirt (10 Starts) and first under Alex McLeish having failed in his loan spell at Newcastle (where he was shipped just 6 months after his regretted arrival at the club) and even against League Two Hereford contributed precisely nothing, just as he had done throughout his 12 months with Villa. Ireland's record stands at W3 D4 L8, 0 Goals, 0 Assists and 1 Booking so far in his Villa career.

Villa face Hereford United for the first time in competitive football, Hereford become the 108th team that the Villa first team has played in League or Cup football.

Vic Crowe's Villa beat division four side Hereford in the League Cup first round.