The young Aston Villa talent making an impressive first start while on loan

Highly-rated Aston Villa youngster Louie Barry has spoken of his delight after enjoying a triumphant first start for Swindon Town.

Sutton Coldfield’s Barry, who shot to prominence by scoring a superb goal for Villa in the FA Cup against Liverpool in January 2021 , spent the early part of this season on loan at League One Ipswich Town.

The 18-year-old is now gaining more experience in his second loan stint of the campaign and helped inspire the Robins to a 3-0 home victory over Scunthorpe United and halt a poor run of form for the Wiltshire side.

Barry took to social media to celebrate and said: “Happy to get my first start for Swindon. Great team performance. We go again next week.”

After last month joining Swindon on loan for the remainder of the campaign, Barry had previously made two substitute appearances.

Let loose from the off, Barry was instrumental in a vital win which leaves Swindon two points outside the play-off places heading into the final third of the campaign.

After impressing throughout, Barry won the penalty which completed the scoring and his efforts were hailed by Swindon head coach Ben Garner, who used a 4-3-3 formation for the first time in his 38 matches in charge which Barry and his fellow forwards revelled in.

Barry and Co will attempt to build on the win when they travel to Carlise United on Saturday.

Elsewhere, Villa’s trio of Championship loanees were in action and two of them went head-to-head at the City Ground where in-form Nottingham Forest rescued a last-gasp 2-2 draw against Stoke City.

Forwards Keinan Davis and Jaden Philogene-Bidace started for Forest and the Potters respectively as the sides fought out a thrilling draw.

Whilst all this was going on, red-hot striker Cameron Archer was again the hero for Preston North End as he curled a superb strike into the top corner with ten minutes remaining to secure a 1-0 victory at Peterborough United which lifted Preston into 11^th place.

Archer has now scored three times in six appearances for the Lancashire side and his form is so good that Villa boss Steven Gerrard is likely to be giving serious consideration to having Archer as part of his first team plans in the Premier League next season.

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