Owen Coyle's side remain just five points above the Premier League relegation zone after losing 1-0 at the Reebok Stadium. Bolton had been hoping to take advantage of the recent slump in European-chasing Villa's form - a three-game run without a win which included a 7-1 thrashing by Chelsea the previous week. But Ricketts said: "We always go on about what an honest bunch of lads we've got here, and in this instance, we have held up our hands and said that didn't get anywhere near the standards we know we're capable of. "We felt it was a good time to be playing Villa. We started OK in the first five or 10 minutes and I think if we'd have kept that up, we would have got a result. "Then towards the end of the second half we put them under pressure without ever creating that one good chance. It's hugely frustrating going into this 10-day break after that result, knowing that Villa were there for the taking."
