*Ten-man Aston Villa climbed back to up to fifth in the Championship table as Dean Smith’s men beat struggling Rotherham to record their seventh straight victory.*

In a game of three penalties, Tammy Abraham missed from the spot before Will Vaulks gave Rotherham the lead at the other end from 12 yards after Tyrone Mings was penalised - and saw red - for handball.

Half-time substitute Jonathan Kodjia then levelled from the spot just three minutes after coming on before Villa quickly completed their turnaround when skipper Jack Grealish finished off a lovely move he began himself.

Villa now trail neighbours West Bromwich Albion, in fourth, by just four points following Bristol City’s win over the Baggies 24 hours earlier.

Rotherham stay 22nd, now two points adrift of safety with five games left, and with an inferior goal difference to the teams above them.

Villa should have led early on when Clark Robertson brought down Grealish but home keeper Marek Rodak got down to his left to turn top scorer Abraham’s penalty around the post.

Instead, they went a man and a goal down when Mings was adjudged to have handled Joe Newell’s innocent-looking pull-back from the left.

Having been booked for an earlier foul on Vaulks, the second yellow meant the first red card of 26-year-old Mings’ career. Vaulks added to Villa’s pain by blasting home the penalty straight down the middle.

Villa boss Dean Smith immediately sacrificed last season’s top scorer Albert Adomah, bringing on Mile Jedinak to play at the back as part of a reshuffle. There was a further change at half-time when Kodjia was brought on to replace Anwar el Ghazi - and he made an instant impact.

Semi Ajayi was the next to be punished for handling in the area and Kodjia tucked away the penalty for his first league goal of 2019.

Another three minutes on and Villa were ahead. From a slick left to right run by Grealish, the Villa captain put the ball out to Ahmed Elmohamady, took the return pass and tucked away a neat finish from 12 yards - his fifth goal of the season and his first since scoring the winner in the Second City derby on 10 March.

Villa now face the side immediately behind them, sixth-placed Bristol City, while Rotherham are at mid-table Stoke.

*Aston Villa head coach Dean Smith told BBC WM 95.6:*

“That’s a big win for us. One of the toughest games we’ve had. To perform like that with 10 men was totally about desire.

“John McGinn was so good I thought there were two of him which evened it out a bit, Jack Grealish came up with the winning goal and both Jonathan Kodjia and Mile Jedinak came on and did well.

“I couldn’t understand some of the decisions but I’d rather talk about my players, who were magnificent, especially in the second half. With the spirit and togetherness we showed, we could have scored more.”