A much-changed Aston Villa side were beaten 2-0 by Middlesbrough in the third round of the EFL Cup at Villa Park on Tuesday night, and manager Steve Bruce would have been disappointed with some of the performances of the players he had given a rare opportunity to.

Villa fielded a completely different starting line-up to the one that recorded just their second Championship win of the season against Barnsley at Oakwell on Saturday, with Bruce obviously looking to utilise his squad and give some of his fringe players the chance to stake their claim for a spot in the team.

While they went in goalless at the break against their fellow Championship opponents, things started to go wrong after the interval when they were reduced to 10 men and Patrick Bamford scored from the resulting penalty kick.

Bamford added a second later in the half as Teesside club's hosts failed to score for the third time in their last four fixtures in all competitions.

Here are three Villa outcasts that failed to take their chance to impress against Boro and might not get another one for some time.

Chris Samba

The former Blackburn Rovers man signed for Aston Villa during the summer after impressing Steve Bruce during a trial, but he has quickly found himself behind John Terry and James Chester in the centre-back pecking order.

On the odd occasion that Bruce has played three at the back this season the 33-year-old has been given an opportunity, but he is likely to stick with the 4-4-2 formation after it produced a 3-0 win against Barnsley on Saturday.

Samba did start against Middlesbrough and while he didn’t really put too many feet wrong – aside from losing his man at a corner early on – he didn’t stand out either.

Tommy Elphick

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Aston Villa's Tommy Elphick celebrates after Rudy Gestede scored their second goal 
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While he has featured for his club in their EFL Cup ties against Wigan Athletic and then Middlesbrough on Tuesday, the former Villa skipper has failed to make the match-day squad in the Championship this season.

It was certainly a surprise the 30-year-old didn't move on during the summer transfer window considering how far down the pecking order he is, but he was given a rare opportunity to impress – as well as wearing the captain's armband again – against Middlesbrough.

Although he did have an effort wrongly ruled out for offside early on, the centre-back fouled Patrick Bamford in the area in the 58th minute and as well as giving away a penalty, he also picked up his second yellow card to leave his team with 10 men for the remaining 30 or so minutes.

Birkir Bjarnason

Steve Bruce signed the Iceland international during the January transfer window earlier this year but he is still to make an impression at Villa Park and is continuing to struggle to win over the club’s supporters.

The 29-year-old has played every minute of their EFL Cup campaign, as well as 152 minutes in the Championship this season, but if he wanted to impress the home faithful and try and force his way into the team on a regular basis, he failed to do so against Middlesbrough.

The left winger was wasteful when he had the ball in the first half, and he barely had a sniff after the interval when Elphick was sent off.

It was another night to forget for the wide man and he is in danger of missing out on the squad altogether in the future with youngsters like Callum O’Hare and Jake Doyle-Hayes shining.

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