Albert Adomah netted a goal in each half as Aston Villa defeated the Blues 2-0 at Villa Park. Adomah put the home side in front on 36 during an evenly-balanced first half, then added the second in the 66th minute with both goals largely the result of poor defending from Town.
Boss Mick McCarthy made four changes from the team which drew 2-2 with Sheffield Wednesday in midweek with Jonas Knudsen, who was back from his one-match ban, Freddie Sears, Dominic Iorfa and Grant Ward all returning to the XI.
Myles Kenlock, Jordan Spence and Bersant Celina dropped to the bench while David McGoldrick is out for a month due to the gash to the groin he suffered against the Owls.
Despite the changes of personnel, the Blues continued with their 4-2-3-1 system with Ward and Sears taking up the roles either side of Waghorn behind lone out-and-out striker Joe Garner. Callum Connolly continued alongside Cole Skuse in the deeper midfield positions.
Emyr Huws was again on the bench, having made his first appearance of the season as a sub on Wednesday, as was Teddy Bishop for the first time during 2017/18 after recovering from the groin operation he underwent in August.
The home side included ex-Town midfielder Conor Hourihane and striker Keinan Davis, who had a trial with the Blues academy in November 2015 when a Biggleswade Town player prior to joining Villa a month later.
Steve Bruce made one change to the team which beat Sunderland 2-1 on Tuesday with Mile Jedinak replacing Christopher Samba at the heart of the defence.
The game got off to a quiet start with neither side threatening until the ninth minute when Alan Hutton flicked a header across the face and well wide from a Robert Snodgrass freekick on the left.
Town had the ball in the net in the 15th minute from the first corner of the match. Waghorn whipped the ball over from the right and Villa keeper Sam Johnstone dropped the ball as Garner jumped into him.
The former Preston striker slammed into the roof of the net but referee Tony Harrington indicated a freekick to the home side on the edge of the box for a foul on the keeper.
Villa immediately threatened at the other end, Davis hitting a low shot which Bartosz Bialkowski claimed low down with little fanfare, the striker having looked offside when the ball was played through to him.
On 24 Jedinak headed a corner from the left goalwards which Connolly nodded away from danger.
Two minutes later Iorfa made a powerful and pacy run from deep to the edge of the area where the ball was stabbed away from him to Ward, who hit a shot on the turn not too far over Johnstone’s goal.
As the keeper prepared to take the resultant goalkick, Jedinak, who had been treated for what appeared to be a shoulder injury earlier on after an aerial challenge with Garner, was replaced by Samba.
Connolly underwent treatment for what looked a nasty clash of heads with Josh Onomah on 28 but the on-loan Everton man was fine to continue.
The Blues created their best opening of the period up to then on the half hour when Knudsen picked up a loose ball on the left and sent over a deep cross which reached Ward beyond the far post. The former Spurs man opted to turn back into the area and was unable to find a team-mate when he should have shot.
Most of the game was by now being played in the Villa half with Garner giving the home backline constant problems, but on 33 the Midlanders came close to opening the scoring. Adomah found space to cross from the left and Davis flicked a header just beyond the far post.
Despite the Blues having had a decent spell, Villa took the lead in the 36th minute. Chambers sent the ball high into the air a few yards outside the area as he cleared a shot after a corner hd bene half-cleared.
Glenn Whelan headed the ball back in once again and somehow it was allowed to reach Adomah on the left of the area.
Skuse slid in to try to make a final challenge but was unable to get a touch on the ball and the Ghanaian turned his 10th goal of the season past Bialkowski. From a Town perspective the goal was as soft as they come.
The Blues were close to an equaliser within a minute. Waghorn sent over a corner from the right but Webster’s header flew over.
Adomah shot over following a Villa break on 41, then moments before the whistle, with Villa finishing the half strongly, Hourihane hit a weak effort through to Bialkowski.
The goal was a bit harsh on the Blues, who had matched the home side up to that point of the game.
But as so often this season Town were left rueing conceding a soft goal with Whelan under no pressure as he headed back into the box - two Town players had broken forward from the edge of the box expecting the clearance to put the Blues on the attack - while there were several chances to dispossess Adomah once it had reached him.
Town’s best chance had been Webster’s header following the goal, although Ward ought to have made more of his earlier opportunity.
The Blues should have been on terms five minutes after the restart. Waghorn sent over another dangerous corner from the right, Chambers flicked on and Garner diverted it over from six yards out, the ball perhaps hitting the strike before he had seen it, much to his frustration.
Connolly picked up the game’s first yellow card in the 56th minute for pulling back Onomah on halfway, then Adomah hit a low shot which Bialkowski saved down to his right with Villa beginning to dominate the half.
Just after the hour Town switched Sears and Ward for Huws and Celina ahead of another dangerously whipped in Waghorn corner from the right which the Midlanders cleared from the edge of their six-yard box.
Huws took up the role in the centre of the three behind Garner with Waghorn moving to the right and Celina on the left. Soon after coming on the Welshman was painfully hit in the face by a well-struck Samba clearance.
Six minutes after the changes, before the subs had had a chance to make an impact, Villa doubled their lead.
Snodgrass played a ball in behind Iorfa for Adomah that the right-back ought to have cut out but he was only able to help it on into the path of the ex-Boro man, who took it into the area and slipped home his second goal of the afternoon and his 11th of the season off the inside of Bialkowski’s right post.
Iorfa’s afternoon got worse on 70 when he pulled up after a burst forward down the right with a hamstring injury.
Two minutes later, Huws was booked for what looked a strong but fair tackle on Hutton, who somewhat overreacted to the challenge.
Celina almost conjured up a goal for the Blues a minute later, deftly playing the ball over the Villa backline for Waghorn but Johnstone quickly came off his line to claim. On 76 Bishop came on for Iorfa, who had already made his way down the tunnel, with Connolly moving to right-back.
Huws headed over from a Waghorn freekick on the left on 80, before Villa swapped Neil Taylor for Ahmed Elmohamady. In the 86th minute Davis was replaced by Jack Grealish and neither side threatened again before the whistle.
As so often in the Championship the first goal was the game’s key moment. Up until the Blues gifted Adomah his first of the afternoon there had been little in the match.
Aside from the Webster header immediately after the first goal and Garner’s opportunity the Blues hadn’t really looked like getting on terms and the Blues need the changes when they came.
However, the afternoon’s second soft goal came before Huws and Celina were able to make an impact and all but sealed what in the end was a deserved Villa win.
The result sees Town drop a place to 10th, now six points from the play-offs ahead of Tuesday's tough trip to Derby, who are sixth and won 3-0 at Middlesbrough this afternoon.
Aston Villa: Johnstone, Taylor (Elmohamady 81), Chester (c), Whelan, Snodgrass, Hourihane, Jedinak (Samba 26), Onomah, Hutton, Adomah, Davis (Grealish 86). Unused: Steer, De Laet, Lansbury, Grealish, O’Hare.
Town: Bialkowski, Iorfa (Bishop 76), Chambers (c), Webster, Knudsen, Skuse, Connolly, Ward (Celina 61), Sears (Huws 61), Waghorn, Garner. Unused: Gerken, Spence, Bru, Kenlock. Referee: Tony Harrington (Cleveland). Att: 30,427.