But Smith's side had to endure a nervous end to the match after Amari'i Bell reduced the arrears in the 74th minute.

Smith said: "We knew how important this game was, and you could feel that in the atmosphere at Villa Park.

"To go five wins in this league is a tremendous achievement for the players but we need to keep winning because we know there are a lot of teams grouped in amongst us.

"We have got ourselves into a good position and we need to maintain the form and performance levels to stay there."

Smith was delighted with the overall performance, adding: "I thought the first-half was probably as good as we have played under me, and that includes being 4-0 up against Derby at half-time here.

"I thought some of our passages of play and movement was outstanding.

"I said before the game that Blackburn have some good players and a good coach, so it was always going to be tough.

"The way that we played in the first-half, the only thing that was missing was probably a three- or four-goal lead.

"Then when we got the second goal I think we thought it was job done a little bit and we got a little bit loose on the ball and never passed it well enough in the last 20 minutes.

"But I must say that for the all the possession we allowed them, they never created much."

Blackburn boss Tony Mowbray felt his side's eighth defeat in 10 games was rough on his side.

Mowbray said: "It was a game of two halves, with Villa's class there to see in the first as we couldn't really get near them and had to work really hard to keep the score where it was.

"But by the end they were hanging on by their fingernails. I thought we grew into the game, playing with a bit more confidence, and we feel a bit disappointed we didn't get something from it in the end."

Reflecting on how far Rovers have come in a short period of time, Mowbray added: "We know we played a good side in the context that we were in League One last year and everyone who started today played in League One for us.

"We gave a pretty good account of ourselves over 90 minutes against a 40,000 crowd and a massive club considering we were playing Wimbledon, Bury and Southend last season.

"Here we are at Villa Park and we are happy enough but we are not happy not to get anything from the game because ultimately I thought the second-half performance warranted nicking something from it."

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