Tony Carss spoke of his disappointment after Aston Villa suffered Premier League 2 play-off defeat to Leeds United on Monday night.
Brad Young headed the Young Lions into the lead after 16 minutes at Elland Road, but the hosts levelled courtesy of Mateo Joseph’s close-range finish from a corner before Sonny Perkins curled Leeds in front just before half-time.
Despite pushing for a second-half equaliser in the semi-final showdown, the visitors could not strike back and ultimately saw the curtain come down on their Division 2 promotion ambitions.
It ensured Leeds progressed to the play-off final and Villa’s PL2 season came to an end.
Speaking after the defeat, Senior Professional Development Phase Coach Carss said: “It started really well in terms of our ball possession, moving the ball.
“We contained their threat early on, we needed to be a little bit more patient sometimes with the ball, just to get the extra pass and open up the space, which we did well in parts of the game.
“I thought we scored an excellent goal, and then we’re really disappointed with the goals we conceded.
“One is a set-play, which you don’t want to be giving away, it’s a tough enough game. They’re the nitty-gritty that happens at the top level, details around set-plays. So that’s disappointing.
“And then obviously we’re disappointed with the other goal as well. There was a decision maybe not given earlier on in that move in which we felt we should have had a free-kick.
“It’s disappointing, and then they go up the other end and score from that. But once we don’t get the free-kick, we’ve got to deal with that moment better and defend it better.
“And then in the second half, we dominated a lot of the ball, they sat in a little bit, the lads kept probing, trying, switching play.
“I thought Kadan Young was a real, real threat all night. He caused them all sorts of problems, they changed their full-back three times, I think, to try and deal with him.
“We were trying to feed him the ball, looking for a moment from him or someone else in the second half, or a bit of luck, but we didn’t really get either.
“So, on the whole, we’re really disappointed with the result. I think performance-wise there’s lots of parts we’re really happy with and, as always, with any player or any team, we’re always looking to improve areas to help us get over the line if we’re in this situation again.”
Villa finished the regular campaign fifth in the Division Two table, three places and nine points behind a Leeds side who missed out on automatic promotion on goal difference.
And despite being bitterly disappointed with defeat, Carss felt there were plenty of positives to take away and retained a sense of pride when looking back on the season as a whole.
He also reflected on how the youngsters have developed and looked to improve their standards, with each player able to draw upon their experiences gained to benefit their individual journeys going forward.
“Since Christmas, and maybe before that, we’ve been on a good run, it’s taken a lot of games to get into the play-offs and then to try and stay in the play-offs,” said Carss, when looking back on 2022/23.
“We had big games, which we knew were important to help us stay in there.
“And then drawing Leeds in the play-off, we lost 2-1 at home and away in our league programme and again another 2-1 here, so the margins are really small.
“They were probably a lot smaller (in the play-off) than they were maybe in the other two games. So, we’re moving forward and progressing.
“What I would say, it was an outstanding effort from some of the players in our team who are moving on from us.
“It was their last game for us, so there’s a huge amount of credit and respect for those guys in terms of what they’ve put in and contributed, not just in this game but during the season.
“We wish them well, for sure. They’ll learn from it on their journey.
“And the players who are with us next season, they’ve got to really reflect on it, as they do in the whole season, and work really hard when they come back in the building to keep making those improvements – keep learning, developing and that will lead to more success in the future.”
