The former Leicester City boss should have been toasting French international striker Nicolas Anelka's sublime first-half free-kick to seal only Bolton's second league win of the season.
But instead he was left cursing Luke Moore's inadvertent equaliser that kept his side rooted in the bottom three.
The home side were all over Villa in the first half, with Anelka well supported by the likes of El Hadji Diouf, Ivan Campo, Kevin Davies and Ricardo Gardner.
But Megson will say his troops were unfortunate to only draw after having a strong penalty appeal for handball against Wilfred Bouma turned down before their opener.
They had a strong case too. But perhaps the stark truth of the matter suggests that they should have made their possession count.
Anelka, substituted after 77 minutes, was brilliant. He led the line superbly, but could have done better with a curling attempt on 27 minutes to make it 2-0.
Although Anelka was Bolton's spearhead, Senegalese forward Diouf was their heartbeat.
Everything that Bolton did well in the first 45 minutes came from the work of the striker-cum-winger down the left.
Villa actually started the game the better, with Scottish striker Shaun Maloney having two shots go wide and high from either side of the box.
However, Bolton didn't have to wait long to take command when Villa defender Zat Knight jumped all over Davies on the edge of the box. Anelka duly fired home right footed.
Martin O'Neill made a double change at the break, bringing on Moore and Patrik Berger for Isaiah Osbourne and, surprisingly, Maloney.
The latter change may have been through injury, because it seemed a strange tactical switch to take off the visitors' most lively player.
It worked though when Bolton strongly contested a throw-in that was given Villa's way in the 56th minute.
As they did, Gabriel Agbonlahor broke down the right and cut inside to fire in a left-foot shot. It nicked off Moore's chest, as he tried to get out of the way, and went in.
Both sides pressed for the winner from then on, with the visitors looking slightly more likely to clinch all three points. However, Diouf had the best chance to win it when he blazed over a parried Gardner shot from the left side of the six-yard box.