Roberto De Zerbi is generally happy with progress made in his first chapter at the club.

But there were not too many smiles as he looked back at this needless 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa.

A scruffy, unsatisfactory match settled by a scruffy, unfortunate goal and concluded amid an atmosphere of frustration and bitterness was not the way the Italian wanted to sign off for the World Cup.

It could have been so different.

Alexis Mac Allister gave the hosts a first-minute lead and they buzzed busily for a while.

But a penalty awarded for Lewis Dunk’s slide on John McGinn saw Danny Ings draw Villa level from the spot.

Ings was credited with the winner as his shot crept past Robert Sanchez via a heavy deflection off Levi Colwill, who was in for the unwell Adam Webster.

With Kaoru Mitoma also ruled out by illness and Adam Lallana off after just five minutes with a muscular problem, the Albion squad was tested.

They did not play with their usual fluency.

But they did enough to earn a point and would have had a golden chance had video assistant Jarred Gillett invited referee Chris Kavanagh to take another look at an incident involving Lucas Digne.

Digne landed a hefty blow on March’s calf when the Albion man nicked the ball away from him.

But the fact the Frenchman was already swinging into his clearance must have swayed Gillett’s thoughts that a clear and obvious error had not taken place.

That was hard to fathom, certainly more so than Kavanagh’s initial call in real time.

De Zerbi also felt the penalty which brought Villa level wass worth another look.

But Albion did not create as much they would have liked.

When they did, the otherwise impressive Colwill sent a header off target from six yards after being expertly picked out by Pascal Gross.

De Zerbi’s frustration overboiled when Villa took an eternity over three substitutions, just after Emiliano Martinez had gone down apparently injured after a routine diving save from Leandro Trossard’s shot.

The keeper, later booked for time-wasting and involved in an eye-to-eye confrontation with Dunk, led the celebrations as Villa moved away from the drop zone.

Argentina had asked for the Villa keeper and Mac Allister to miss the game ahead of the World Cup.

As it was, they took centre stage inside 50 seconds.

Martinez played the ball short to Douglas Luiz but Mac Allister forced him off it, steadied himself and finished expertly.

Albion were buoyant for a while but it felt like they were not really building on that perfect start.

Villa grew into the game and had a chance to level when Emi Buendia threaded McGinn into the box.

Dunk slid in and was adjudged to have caused McGinn to go down.

It pretty much summed up the Seagulls’ day that Sanchez got a good hand to Ings’ driven penalty but could not keep it out.

Albion were struggling to get Danny Welbeck and Julio Enciso, who replaced Lallana, really involved in the game.

But Pervis Estupinan was a good outlet down the left and it was from that side that they were inches from going back ahead.

With no defender on the near post, Gross went for goal directly from a corner and the scrambling Martinez just managed to push the ball away from right on the line.

Villa were close too in the second period as Buendia headed against the post after Matty Cash got away from Estupinan and crossed.

Albion, suitably relieved, looked to play their way out from the rebound but Luiz robbed Mac Allister and Ings sidestepped Dunk’s lunge before seeing a mis-hit shot roll in off Colwill.

Villa got men back and closed the game out in any way they could from that point.

Mac Allister said: “In the second half there was no game “They wasted time, the referee let them waste time and we didn’t play as much as we wanted.

“It is what it is. It’s football.

“It’s the way they want to play football so it’s fine.”

It was all far from fine for the home side and their head coach who, like Gross, was booked for complaints at time-wasting.

Mac Allister also looked at failings in-house.

He said: “Not happy with the second half.

“I think we can play better.

“I made a mistake, we made a few mistakes.

“Our idea is clear. We try to build up from the back.

“When it’s like this we have to take the responsibility.”

Albion: Sanchez; Gross, Dunk, Colwill, Estupinan (Lamptey 81); Mac Allister, Caicedo; March, Lallana (Enciso 5, Veltman 59), Trossard ; Welbeck (Undav 59). Subs not used: Steele, Gilmour, Ferguson, Van Hecke, Turns.

Goal: Mac Allister 1 Yellow card: Gross, De Zerbi Aston Villa: Martinez; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne (Augustinsson 83); McGinn, Kamara, Luiz (Dendoncker 82), Ramsey (Young 69); Buendia 7 (Bailey 74), Ings 8 (Archer 83). Subs not used: Olsen, Sanson, Chambers, Bednarek.

Goals: Ings 20, 54 Yellow card: Mings, Cash, Bailey, Young, Kamara, Martinez Referee: Chris Kavanagh.

Attendance: 31, 581