The Villa manager had targeted the competition as a possible source of silverware and demonstrated his intentions by naming a handful of frontline players in his starting XI.

But it was Rangers defender Damion Stewart who was the star as he headed the Championship side into the fourth round and O'Neill said: "We put enough into the game to win it. It's a wasted opportunity.

different issue

"When the match is in the balance and you don't take your chances there's always a possibility you might concede and we did.

"We were beaten in the game but if we had been played off the park it would have been a different issue.

"It's naturally disappointing to go out of the competition and not to be in the hat for the next round is really frustrating."