Defender Aaron Cresswell admitted West Ham United fell well short of what was required following Tuesday night’s disappointing Emirates FA Cup exit at the hands of Bristol City.
The EFL Championship Robins progressed to the fourth round at the expense of David Moyes’ ten men in the Ashton Gate replay, with Tommy Conway - who had equalised in the first running of the tie at London Stadium - notching the winner in the third minute.
A first defeat at the third-round stage of the FA Cup since 2016/17 leaves the Irons searching for success in the UEFA Europa League and Premier League in the remainder of the current campaign, and Cresswell - who made his sixth appearance of the season in the West Country - is already targeting a strong response at Sheffield United on Sunday.
“Credit to Bristol City, but we know we weren’t good enough tonight and it’s up to us to react now,” said the 34-year-old, who was one of four changes made to the away starting XI.
“We wanted to go as far as possible in the FA Cup - as we do in every competition we play in - so we’re all gutted we’re out.
“We’ll go back to the training ground and do what we can to make sure we’re ready for Sunday now. We have another big game back in the Premier League, and hopefully we can come back from that with the right result.”
Maxwel Cornet and Danny Ings were among those to go close to grabbing an equaliser for the Hammers before Saïd Benrahma was shown a red card in the 51st minute after a coming together with Joe Williams.
And Cresswell highlighted that incident as a turning point in the contest, explaining that he felt West Ham’s numerical disadvantage swung the game’s momentum in the hosts’ favour.
He added: “I felt the sending-off changed the game. I haven’t seen it back so I’m not sure whether or not it should’ve been a red card, but it did have an impact.
“Throughout the game we could have done more and been in better positions at times, but I felt we were somewhat in control until then. After that, we couldn’t really get going and we found it difficult.”
