Aston Villa thrashed League Two side Crewe 6-1 to reach the Carabao Cup third round.
Ezri Konsa scored four minutes into his debut for the Premier League team before Conor Hourihane’s double made it 3-0 at half-time at Gresty Road.
Keinan Davis and Frederic Guilbert’s first Villa goal extended their lead in the second half.
Ryan Wintle pulled a goal back for Crewe before Jack Grealish’s late low drive completed a convincing win for Dean Smith’s side.
Smith made 10 changes from the team that claimed their first Premier League win of the season against Everton on Friday, including handing debuts to Konsa, Matt Targett and Marvelous Nakamba.
He was rewarded with a clinical performance as Villa scored with six of their seven efforts on target.
Konsa, a £12m signing from Brentford, scored a close-range header after Crewe failed to clear a short corner.
Crewe, sixth in League Two, thought they had equalised when Owen Dale’s headed home Chris Porter’s flick-on, but the effort was disallowed for offside.
Hourihane doubled Villa’s lead after good work from Jota and Henri Lansbury before heading home Anwar El Ghazi’s left-wing cross in first half stoppage time.
Grealish replaced the impressive Jota after 68 minutes and within a minute had set up Villa’s fourth, his low cross from the left converted by Davis for his first goal in 19 months.
Fellow substitute Guilbert, on for the injured Targett, curled home a fine effort from Lansbury’s short corner to make it 5-0.
Crewe, who had 17 shots at goal, finally pulled a goal back when Wintle drove low into the corner.
Grealish completed the scoring with a powerful low effort from inside the area with three minutes left after more good play by Lansbury down the left.
Aston Villa boss Dean Smith: “It wasn’t as safe as the scoreline suggested -Crewe made a game if it.
“But I thought we were very, very clinical and our quality showed, particularly with our second goal. After that we were very good and ran away with it.
“Only Jota kept his place so there were a lot of players who haven’t played since pre-season, but everyone knew their jobs, roles and responsibilities. Their application was first-class and they deserved that result.”
