Ollie Watkins struck twice as Villa edged a see-sawing game on the night.
Speaking to VillaTV afterwards, Emery said: “I’m very thankful for our supporters.
“They were here today, Wednesday, 7.30pm, travelling from Birmingham to be with us, to support us, to help us.
“They are very important because the players felt it, how they were pushing and helping us. It gives us a lot of motivation, as well to feel excited to try to share our wishes, their wishes, together, and their energy.
“How we reacted, how we didn’t give up after the first and second goals was fantastic. Maybe their first goal wasn’t a corner but we conceded one goal.
“When we were, more or less, a little bit shocked they scored the second goal and we needed to react, we needed to get our gameplan.
“And when we scored our first goal, we kept balance and we were trying to dominate, trying to adapt competing against them, and we scored the second goal.
“The first half was fantastic how we achieved this result. The second half, again, we were keeping our gameplan and, of course, it was a very tough match, a very difficult match.
“But the players responded fantastic.”