Aston Villa defender Matthew Lowton has urged his teammates to be proud of their performance during Saturday's 3-1 defeat to Manchester United.

The Villans were dragged further into the Premier League relegation battle yesterday as they were downed at Old Trafford.

However, Lowton believes that United should be flattered by the scoreline following a dogged display from Villa.

"The three goals against us were a bit harsh," he is quoted as saying by the Birmingham Mail. "People will look at that and think that Man United dominated.

"We knew that they would have a lot of the ball, they are a great team and we set out our stall to try and frustrate them. We stayed in the game as long as we could. We managed to get a goal back and that lifted our fans, we had a few chances but they did us on the break."

Villa are back in action on Tuesday when they host fellow strugglers Queens Park Rangers.