Aston Villa strengthened their position in the Championship play-off places last night with a hard-fought win over Rotherham United.

It was a dramatic night at the New York Stadium, as Villa came from behind to win 2-1 with second-half strikes from Jonathan Kodjia and captain Jack Grealish.

Tammy Abraham saw his first-half penalty saved and centre-back Tyrone Mings was sent off for handball during the first half, but Dean Smith's side produced a brilliant comeback to take all three points.

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Villa's seventh straight victory sees move up to fifth in the Championship table, one point ahead of sixth-placed Bristol City, who they face at Villa Park on Saturday.

Here are three things we learned about Aston Villa after their 2-1 win at Rotherham...

McGinn outstanding again

Villa were brilliant in the second half last night and all the players deserve tremendous credit for the way they were able to come back.

Grealish will probably take many of the plaudits for scoring the winner, but there was another man who really stood out on the pitch last night, John McGinn.

Villa had to cover extra ground with a man disadvantage and the midfielder showed relentless energy and work rate. He has already proved how important a player he is to Villa this season and last night was no different.

Brilliant team spirit

If there were any questions about the team spirit and the character of this Aston Villa side, those questions would have been answered last night.

Villa had to play with ten men for almost an hour after Mings' red card, but showed fantastic desire to fight back to get the result.

You could see just how much it meant to the players during the celebrations for Grealish's winning goal and that is exactly the sort of passion you need in your team when you are involved in a promotion battle.

Away questoins answered

Before this winning run, Villa had not won an away game since Boxing Day, causing some to question whether the team are good enough to make the play-offs due to their inconsistent form on the road.

However, Villa have surely answered those questions after their fourth consecutive away win last night.

Last night's performance showed that this group of players are good enough to grind out results in important matches away from home and this could be crucial over the coming weeks with a big away game at Leeds to come.