Evans certain Arnason will learn from errors

STEVE EVANS says Kari Arnason felt the pain more than most after being handed a personal lesson in the unforgiving nature of Premier League opposition at Villa Park.

The Icelandic international has received consistent praise from his manager following his arrival at Rotherham United from Aberdeen in the summer of 2012.

But he was forced to endure some brickbats on Wednesday evening.

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The 30-year-old, rated as Championship class by Evans, who has spoken regularly about the number of suitors from the second-tier keen to sign him, was culpable for Villa’s two first-half goals in the Midlands club’s 3-0 Capital One Cup win.

A loose pass let in Andreas Weimann for a fine opener and more sloppy play was punished just before the break when Christian Benteke headed home for the home side.

At the final whistle, Arnason cut a disappointed figure as he trudged off the Villa Park pitch, with the defender/midfielder left to ponder a harsh lesson.

Evans said: “We’ve got to learn that if you make mistakes, you get punished.

“That’s at all levels.

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“But I think the higher you go – and we have got aspirations as a football club to go higher – you get punished by that little bit of quality.

“I think Kari Arnason didn’t do himself justice because he made two big errors.

“He’s got high standards and he knows his two errors cost us two goals.

“The dressing room was very flat at half-time when we were 2-0 down, although I don’t think our performance merited that. But that’s what happens.

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“They felt to create something special and a cup upset, probably the second goal was a knife to us and the third was the coffin (lid).”

Out-of-favour Millers winger Lionel Ainsworth has linked up with Stuart McCall’s Motherwell on loan until January.