Man of the Match Fabian Delph was delighted to net his first Villa goal – but promised fans they are far from seeing the best of him after blasting his own form.

The £6million summer signing from Leeds scored the third in Saturday’s 3-2 FA Cup fourth-round victory over League One Brighton.

A goal capped an outstanding display from the highly-rated 20-year-old in the heart of Villa’s midfield but, as pleased as he was with the goal, the straight-talking Yorkshireman was less impressed with his overall performance.

Delph said:“It felt really good getting on the scoresheet. I felt I should have had a hat-trick, to be honest. Luckily I managed to keep going and get a goal.

“Was this my best performance yet for Villa? No, definitely not. I thought I was very sloppy in the first half, so I think I’ve got a lot more to add and hopefully with games I’ll improve.”

The England under-21 international, who followed up goals from Nathan Delfouneso and Ashley Young, has found opportunities limited since arriving from Leeds with James Milner and Stiliyan Petrov both in outstanding form in the centre of midfield, and experienced Premier League pair Nigel Reo-Coker and Steve Sidwell also vying for a place.

But there are no complaints from Delph, who reckons he only has himself to blame after starting on the opening day against Wigan.

He added: “It’s not been so much frustrating, just a case of working hard to get my chance. To be fair, I’ve had a few chances this season and not done particularly well, so I’ve got nobody to blame apart from myself. Hopefully I can get a few more games and play well.

“I like to set myself high standards. Hopefully I can reach the standard I was at with Leeds. Obviously it’s a big difference here and with time, experience and working with better players I’ll get there.

“When I first came I was on a high, probably playing on adrenaline. I thought I did really well against Fiorentina, let myself down against Wigan and didn’t play again until Blackburn.

“If I’m being honest, I think my standard has dropped quite a lot, but that’s down to not playing games. Hopefully with the FA Cup and a lot of games coming up, I can get the odd game here and there and manage to get myself back to where I was.”

Brighton boss Gus Poyet, who gave Delph his debut at Leeds, took plenty of pride from his team’s performance.

Poyet, who played for Chelsea against Villa in the 2000 FA Cup final, said: “We put everything into the game and the fans were absolutely fantastic. We made a couple of mistakes and paid the price for that, but we showed during this game that we can compete with better players.

“I was never going to come to Villa Park, try and play for a goalless draw and be boring. That is not my style. I wanted to come and entertain and the boys can be proud of their efforts.”