Aston Villa boss Gerrard reveals Prince William set a message of support to the his misfiring team

The Prince of Wales still sent Aston Villa a message of support as he mourns the Queen’s death, boss Steven Gerrard revealed.

Jacob Ramsey’s first-half winner sealed a sloppy 1-0 win over Southampton on Friday after Villa Park paid tribute to the Queen.

Villa climbed to 13th place after a second win of the season – and the first clean sheet since April – on a night that started with a minute of silence and the national anthem.

A lifelong Villa fan, William remains in London for his grandmother’s state funeral on Monday, but still offered his support to Gerrard and his team.

Gerrard said: “He sent a message to the club during the week, and that shows everything about what he thinks of this club. If we reward that with a result and a clean slate, I’m sure he will be proud.

“It was along the lines of ‘would love to be there’. He is in constant contact. He supports the boys individually, he loves them. It’s really impressive, his knowledge and how much he’s into it.

“It definitely brought me back. He is very involved with Villa. For him to message the situation he is in is really impressive.

“Where we were before the game, in terms of position in the competition, it was about the result. It wasn’t pretty or stylish, but it was about resilience, guts, character and owning the pitch.’

There was nothing to ignite either team for 34 minutes of a miserable game until Philippe Coutinho shot over.

At the very least, it woke Villa up with Coutinho and John McGinn – who admitted he would have turned the match off if he watched on TV – in an attempt to force the issue.

The urgency worked and the hosts cashed in when they were on top four minutes before half time.

Coutinho’s header was saved by Gavin Bazunu, but from the corner it was sent briefly to the Brazilian to cross for Ollie Watkins.

His header was turned on the crossbar by Bazunu, with the ball in a loop, and Mohammed Salisu could only nod Ramsey to shoot in.

That was as good as it got in a game that was desperately low quality. Leon Bailey shot wide and Douglas Luiz tried his luck from a corner before the half was over, but the second half left much to be desired.

Stuart Armstrong looked wide into stoppage time – the best a weak Southampton could do as they suffered a third loss in four games.

“We’ve seen better games in the Premier League this season,” Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl said. “They only had one thing, to score, and we didn’t.

“It was a long way from the Premier League level from both sides. We weren’t good enough on the ball to create anything serious.

“It was comparable to Wolves’ game (a 1-0 loss), but we didn’t get any chances. It was hard to say what it was, after the first two or three games we were a bit tense.

“Some players have to adapt to this level and that takes time. This is not surprising. We were the worst of both teams.’