Sam Allardyce will take the positives from the weekend FA Cup exit into the preparations for Portsmouth this week.
At Sheffield Wednesday on Sunday, a team showing seven changes from the 1-0 win against Coventry City, meant that while some of the squad were able to rest ahead of Saturday's vital npower Championship match at Fratton Park, others got some much-needed game time.
The likes of Winston Reid, stand-in captain George McCartney, Gary O'Neil and substitutes Robert Hall and Frank Nouble all caught the eye as part of a youthful Hammers side that went down to a narrow 1-0 defeat.
The West Ham United manager felt his side deserved at least a Boleyn Ground replay after outplaying their hosts for much of the game, but once more a lack of a clinical edge cost them dear, as has been the case of late during games in the npower Championship.
"Performance-wise I'm delighted in many areas but the finishing has to get better," Big Sam said, "We're creating lots of chances, not just in the cup but also in the league, but. we're not converting enough and that was apparent again."
Allardyce was not looking to make excuses for the defeat however, and was confident the strong starting XI selected would have had enough to cope with the high-flying League One side.
As it was, the game was decided by a solitary strike just two minutes from the end as Chris O'Grady's shot squeezed in under the body of Ruud Boffin in the West Ham goal.
"Most of the lads that played in the game before last played, but the only real changes we made were John Carew coming in and Freddie Sears down the left-hand side, all the rest had started at least one of the last two games.
"We also introduced some of the younger element, Daniel Potts gets a bit of experience and Hally comes on and looks a bit lively down that right-hand side. We wanted to go on at that stage and win the game, but we slipped up on a basic save and he's let it in unfortunately for us."
The good news is that with the opening of January transfer window and the full support of the Board, Big Sam can now look to strengthen his goalscoring options by bringing in new blood, but only if he feels they will improve the standard of the squad currently available to him.
"Where we are in our position is to look at the squad and say 'Are we going to take enough chances with the squad that we've got?' and the answer to that over the last five or six games is 'No'.
"We've already made offers for six or seven players that have been unsuccessful, but we'll carry on trying as hard and as efficiently as we can to ensure that we acquire a new player if that's at all possible. But I will only buy a player that I think can make us better."