Milner takes the positives

Villa ace looking to grow following Wembley heartache

Last updated: 6th March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Milner takes the positives

Milner: Will learn from defeat

Those experiences, like the one in last weekend's final, have to make you stronger as a footballer.

James Milner
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Aston Villa's James Milner insists his team-mates are only taking the positives from their Carling Cup defeat to Manchester United last weekend.

Villa were the unlucky losers at Wembley after Wayne Rooney came off the bench to head the winner for the Red Devils in the second half.

Milner's early penalty had given Martin O'Neill's side the lead and the ex-Newcastle man believes everyone has learned from the showpiece heartache.

The England ace could not his disappointment at coming away from Wembley empty-handed and concedes playing for his country days later against Egypt helped him take his mind off the loss.

Milner claims the defeat was equal to the hurt that he felt after relegation with Leeds, but insists learning from the experience will make him stronger as his career progresses.

Disappointment

"I was massively disappointed. The disappointment is still there," explained Milner.

"The pain was as bad as when I was relegated with Leeds. It was on that same sort of level.

"But, with having a game on Wednesday, I had to refocus straight away and look forward to the next game (for England).

"If I had been back at the club, I would have had a full week to think about the final a lot more and would have been going over and over the game.

"But having another big game two days later, and being in a different environment with the England players, helped to refocus the mind."

Experience

Milner added: "Those experiences, like the one in last weekend's final, have to make you stronger as a footballer.

"We put in a good performance, made chances and could have at least taken the game into extra-time with the chances we created.

"You really have to make sure you take the positives out of any situation. It is a big learning curve playing in major finals.

"We had great support on the day and it was disappointing not to win for ourselves, for the club and for them as well.

"But it has made us even more hungry - if that was possible - to get back to Wembley for the FA Cup final.

"You want to do as well you can in any cup competition but maybe there is an extra incentive now to go again and make it second time lucky.

"When you've tasted that sort of occasion as a loser, you want to taste it as a winner.

"We have some big games coming up, we're still challenging for fourth spot in the Premier League and an FA Cup final, and hopefully it can be a successful season."