Jarrod Bowen felt his West Ham United side had only themselves to blame after falling to a narrow 1-0 defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday night.
The Hammers travelled to the West Midlands eager to make their mark, after waiting two-and-a-half weeks since their last Premier League outing at Everton, yet were made to pay for missing early chances as Jørgen Strand Larsen struck the only goal of the game with 21 minutes on the clock.
The home side could have doubled their advantage before the break, with Marshall Munetsi crashing an effort against the crossbar, and West Ham needed a reaction after the break.
While the Irons huffed and puffed, they were kept at bay by a resilient Wolves side, with the returning Niclas Füllkrug going closest to a leveller with a looping header which hit the frame of José Sá’s goal. Emerson and Tomáš Souček also fired wide when well placed.
A leveller would not come, leaving captain Bowen and his teammates disappointed that they could not turn their possession into goals.
“We’re frustrated with ourselves,” the No20 admitted. “I think first half we let the game get away from us too much, but whilst it was only 1-0, we were still in it
“They defended their lead really well and it was down to us to break them down better than what we did.
“While we had probably the better chances in the game, we haven't come away with a goal tonight, so we're disappointed with that and we've lost the game. It's obviously a massive disappointment.
“We have a game Saturday back at home [against Bournemouth], so [we need] a reaction from us. It's important to bounce back and react with our fans onside as well.”
After only playing twice in March, the Hammers had to wait for their chance at Molineux, with the international window and FA Cup quarter-finals halting any momentum that could have been taken from the draw at Everton last time out.
Bowen refused to use that spell without action on the pitch as an excuse though, saying the team had prepared to be ready from the off at Molineux.
“I think players have played for their countries and we've had a split group [with players away for internationals and others staying at Rush Green] for long enough now to know that when we're back in, we're back in and working,” he continued.
“That's what we've been doing all week. That first half was probably the most disappointing aspect of that because we weren't quite at it and let them get a goal. It was always an uphill battle chasing a game where we felt we had the better chances and we could have really took control of the game.
“But we didn't do that and that's something for us to have a look at over the next couple of days.”
Bowen concluded by saying he was pleased to see Niclas Füllkrug make his comeback following three months on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.
The German was a whisker away from a leveller with that late header which came back off the crossbar, and Bowen is looking forward to feeling his impact over the season’s closing stretch.
“Fülle came on and did really well,” he explained. “He would have been disappointed not to start but I think the way he worked showed what this manager requires and I think what we require as a group to push everyone every single day in training.
“It’s massively important having him back, and Evan Ferguson as well is getting up his match minutes because he's been out for a long time too.
“It'll be a really big boost having them both available. We don't want to have one of those ends of the season where we just let it fizzle out. We still have a lot of football to be played, still a lot of points to be made and that's down to us to do it.”
