Villa went down to a 3-2 defeat against the Potters at the Britannia Stadium on Saturday with Mamady Sidibe scoring the injury time goal that secured the newcomers' first win in the Barclays Premier League.

However, Laursen has urged Villa to immediately overcome the loss in a week that sees the midlands side play their UEFA Cup qualifier against FC Hafnarfjordur followed by the visit of Liverpool on Sunday.

cutting up

The Denmark international said: "We always bounced back last season and we will try and do that again.

"I can't promise that but our confidence is fine. It is not low, we are just sad not to have got at least a point from the weekend."

Villa manager Martin O'Neill is refusing to be downbeat after the loss and said: "I am still very positive because the fact is we have been beaten in the last minute of the game.

"Over the whole period I thought we should have got at least something from the game after we scored two very good goals. It is too early to start cutting up players as it were, we have played two games in the Premier League and we've scored six goals."