The 20-year-old Irish international was delighted to start his first game since picking up an ankle injury against Bolton Wanderers in October last year, but says the defeat overshadowed any personal joy he felt: “It felt great to get a run-out and start the game, even scoring a goal, but to be honest it almost counts for nothing.
“The most important thing was to get three points, which we didn’t and it’s very disappointing.
“I felt some of our play was magnificent but on the night it just wasn’t to be.”
The young midfielder managed to grab a goal back for Latics with ten minutes to go after Villa had gone two up, but it was too little too late and McCarthy said: “We’re disappointed but we’ll stick together as a group, come back into training tomorrow and continue to keep our spirits up by working hard.
“After getting that goal back I thought we had a real go at them, something which the Gaffer was pleased about, but the end product just wasn’t there, sometimes you have nights like that.”
McCarthy said he thought the side created some good chances during the match and said: “James (McArthur) and Hendry (Thomas) give you that bit of dig in the middle which opened up some opportunities, but we just couldn’t get the goal we needed, then a few minutes after the break they go up the other end of the pitch to score, which knocked the stuffing out of us a bit.”
Despite the frustrating defeat, McCarthy believes the team have the strength of character to bounce back and said: “We need to pick ourselves up now, it was a great performance despite the result.
“We’ve got a big derby against Bolton next week in the cup and then an even bigger match-up against West Brom the week after, which I’m sure the lad’s will be ready for and we’ll give it everything.”
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