David Moyes felt there were plenty of positives to take from West Ham United's narrow 2-1 defeat to Manchester City on Sunday.
The Hammers were beaten by goals from Ilkay Gundogan and Fernandinho, meaning Manuel Lanzini's spectacular late strike was merely a consolation.
The boss was happy with how his team set themselves up and kept themselves in the game against Pep Guardiola's men, even if the result did not quite go their way in the end.
I was happy with the work the players put in today.
The players did a good job - they played well at times. We had to defend well and tactically we had to be as good as we could be, so there were lots of good things from the players.
It was a similar result here last year too. We felt we were close and we're getting closer. Let's be fair, we've seen it all the time how good Man City are - it's really difficult to wrestle the ball off them, you do your best to get a level of possession and we had some opportunities to do a little better and we didn't take them.
If there's a disappointment i think it's that I felt we had chances to actually make something happen [and we didn't take them].
We started brightly. They grew into it and we just turned off a little bit for the goal. In the main we defended very well and did a lot of good things. W're trying to compete against the top sides and today the players did.
We're trying to reach the level Manchester City show consistently.
It's difficult to join them - it's the quality of player Manchester City have got and the quality of their individuals. We're trying to make it up by having a good team, being as organised as we can be and getting the best out of all the players.
I have to say all of them are doing a terrific job. I said this was going to be tough, and it was, but the players put on a decent show today.
The support we received was magnificent, as it always is.
The trains have not gone today so I'm really sorry for the supporters who couldn't make it.
I think the ones who were here, I think they were pleased with the effort the players put in and we came very close to getting something.
We're getting a little bit better but you can still the see gulf we're going to have to bridge if we're really serious about challenging the really top teams.