WANDERERS travelled to Villa Park with their confidence higher than at any point of the season after going three games unbeaten and boasting their first clean sheet for 16 matches at Everton on Saturday.
So it was a doubly disappointing performance, and result.
Manager Sam Allardyce was hugely encouraged by the clean sheet at Everton because he acknowledges his side has needed to improve that side of their game.
"We need to achieve more defensively," he said before the squad arrived at Villa Park.
"We managed to go from a 4-3 win to a 0-0 draw at Everton where we got the clean sheet that I always wanted.
"Those clean sheets are the real difference to whether we get out of the relegation zone or not because you only need one goal to win a game and that makes things so much easier for the side.
"If we can do that we can always score goals because we have only failed to score in four matches out of 20 which is a great achievement for a side which is fourth from bottom."
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