Tony Carr was full of pride for his West Ham United Under-18 side after seeing them knocked out of the FA Youth Cup by Newcastle United.
The Hammers played their full part in an entertaining tie at the Boleyn Ground, controlling possession for long periods and creating countless opportunities for long periods, only to finish on the wrong end of a 3-0 fifth-round defeat.
Academy Director Carr praised the attitude and approach of his team, who continued to plug away, despite falling three goals behind just six minutes after half-time.
George Moncur smashed a 30-yard free-kick against the crossbar and Eoin Wearen saw his penalty saved late on as the Hammers gamely tried to force their way back into the match, but it was just not to be their night.
Instead, goals from Jeffrey Henderson - whose shot was ruled just over the line by the assistant referee - Philip Airey and Bradden Inman saw the Magpies steal a place in the quarter-finals.
"I was pleased with the way we played, to be honest," Carr told WHUTV. "The scoreline didn't do us justice and doesn't tell the story of the game. I thought for the first 20 or 25 minutes of the game we were terrific. We passed the ball and outplayed them, and that's no understatement.
"We've just gifted them the first goal. Ahmed on the near post has let the ball go and it was just a crazy, crazy goal. It was easily cleared but he thought it was going to hit the side-netting. It hit the post and we cleared it off the line, the linesman then said it crossed the line but all the boys swear it didn't.
"From then on, it lifted Newcastle tremendously. They were a team that played on the counterattack and were physically stronger than us but, football-wise, we outplayed them. In terms of individual performances, there were some terrific individual ones from us.
"At half-time, we were in the game, but then we made one fatal error. They got lucky when we tried to play the ball down the line and it ricocheted into the path of their number nine. He's then outpaced Paco Craig and put it in. [For the third goal] Ahmed Abdulla has just tried to take too many touches outside his own box and been caught and bang, we were 3-0 down.
"It was obviously an uphill battle from that point. We've hit the crossbar and missed a couple of good opportunities and missed a penalty as well. It wasn't to be our night, but I was pleased with the way we played.
"I'm really disappointed with going out of the competition because I thought we were more than their match, but they did it where it mattered in and around the box. They scored the goals and we didn't, end of story. We wish Newcastle all the best and we hope they go all the way now."
The U18s return to action with an FA Premier Academy League fixture at Norwich City on Saturday morning. Kick-off is at 11am. The Hammers will be looking for a repeat of the home fixture between the two sides, which saw Carr's team run out 3-1 winners at Little Heath on 5 December.