Ian Evatt believes Aston Villa's second goal in the loss his Bolton Wanderers side suffered came from an offside decision not given as he felt the Premier League side would have become more nervy had the game been level for longer.
The Whites took a deserved lead in the first half when Dion Charles slotted home from inside the box. Douglas Luiz equalised before the break straight from a corner.
The Villans went ahead from the penalty spot when, despite suggestions of offside, Danny Ings won a penalty at the expense of Joel Dixon. He picked himself up to slot home from the spot.
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The Villans added a third through Lucas Digne, before Leon Bailey capped off the win with a fourth towards the end. It meant the League One side exited the competition despite a spirited and encouraging performance.
The hour mark had passed by the time Ings went through on goal and down under Dixon's challenge. The England international duly converted from the spot.
Replays showed that Ings may have been marginally offside when the ball was played, just ahead of Wandererss defender Will Aimson. It is a decision that Evatt felt Villa took confidence from that and went on to punish Wanderers as he heaped praise on his side for their performance against a top flight side.
Evatt said: "The ball is out of play but I genuinely think he is offside. Will is leaning but his foot looks to me to be in the next grass cut. You would like to see those decisions be correct, as tight as it is.
“That penalty gave them some belief and confidence back. I think the longer the game went on at 1-1, the more nervy they would have become.
"We had them kind of looking nervous because we were ahead and then the set plays give them some belief and confidence. It was a hell of a ball in, there was some disruption on the goalkeeper before that, but it's the second one that's most disappointing really because the game's tight, one all, 60 minutes.
"We're just about to start thinking about changing and giving us some fresh impetus and energy and he looks offside to me - whether he is or not, I don't know. It just goes back to that VAR discussion in all football.
"After that, I thought they got some confidence and we lacked a bit the last 20 minutes, but loads of good things tonight and we'll progress onto Saturday now and focus on the league.
"They should take an immense amount of credit from giving them a run for their money for so long in the game. That was their full team with probably one or two changes, but all their big hitters were there for all to see and I thought we coped with them really well for 60 minutes.
"The game really changes on moments and their quality really punished in the good moments for them and we didn't quite defend them well enough, but against Premier League opposition that happens.
"I haven't seen the actual penalty back but the lads tell me the ball's out of play virtually when he goes down so it's a bit of a rough call and a rough decision. But it is what it is and now we'll enjoy what we've seen to night and focus on Saturday."
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