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A second-half goal from Matt Fryatt earned the Foxes a 1-0 win at Villa Park in the third-round tie against their former manager Martin O'Neill.

O'Neill rang the changes from the side which had defeated Everton at the weekend - but they still possessed enough quality to have overcome Leicester had they been firing on all cylinders.

Megson said: "As a player, I got a few decent results at Villa Park. But this is my first win there as a manager, and it's a great victory for us.

"When you enter these competitions you want to do as well as you can, and the effort we put in has got to be a starting point for us.

"We've now got to put that in every time we play. That sets the standard I want to see every week."

Even a weakened Villa side were a step up on Leicester's usual opposition, according to Megson.

"Martin O'Neill might have rested one or two players, and also had a couple of injuries, but that was still a stronger side than we will face in the Championship at any time this season," he said.

"When you see a Villa side containing Gareth Barry, England's best player in their recent matches, and £15million of talent at centre-half then you know what sort of game you're going to get.

"We knew we needed the effort and work rate to be at the highest level - and it was.

"Villa had a lot of pressure. But we had the best two chances, and Matt managed to take one of them."

Megson reverted to playing with three centre-backs, and Villa seldom looked like breaking through.

"We finished against Charlton on Saturday with three at the back," the Leicester boss recalled.

"It is not my favourite way of playing. But if you have got players whose style is suited to that formation, then we will play it."

O'Neill pulled no punches about Villa's lacklustre performance - with debutant Curtis Davies looking especially ring-rusty in his first senior game for six months.

He said: "We didn't play well enough, and it is particularly disappointing after our recent league form.

"We wanted a home tie. It was a game, even though I made changes, that we were capable of winning.

"We didn't do enough to deserve that. Credit to Leicester. They took their chance when it came along - but we didn't have enough tempo to our game.

"We put some pressure on only after they had scored. The players who came into the side were decent players - but we just didn't do the business.

"We didn't treat this game lightly. I said beforehand I wanted to win and have a good run in the competition, and it's disappointing to go out now."

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