Despite coming away from Villa Park without finding the net in their league cup defeat, Evans' men put up a strong fight particularly in the first half before being punished for a couple of defensive lapses.
But the manager was proud of everyone on the field and in the stands as he gave his reaction to themillers.co.uk after the game.
“I think for the first half hour you don’t realise who the Premier League side is,” said Evans. “If this is your first time watching English football and you watched this game as a neutral thinking it’s a Premier League game, you think Rotherham United are a decent side. We were the better team and made the better half chances, but you learn that the higher you go, if you make mistakes, you’re going to get punished.
"Arnason makes a couple of mistakes, but even with the mistake, the first goal is a special finish. Second-half we were hoping to put together a scrap to make it a game and we went 3-0 down. You worry when you go three down at Villa, but our characters came together and we played with pride. They’ll be tired tonight, they’ll be tired tomorrow, and they’ll need freshening up now to be ready for the trip to Notts County on Saturday.”
He added: “The fans were immense too, it is not often that Villa fans are out-sung at home, but for the majority of this evening they were.”