Łukasz Fabiański is confident West Ham United can still progress to the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals, following a narrow 1-0 defeat at SC Freiburg in the team's round of 16 first leg clash in Germany.
The 38-year-old goalkeeper came into the starting XI for his 15th appearance of the season at the Stadion am Wolfswinkel, and though only called into action to make two saves, he could do nothing about substitute Michael Gregoritsch’s late winner for the hosts.
The result leaves the Hammers with an battle to secure a European quarter-final place for a third successive season, but former Poland international Fabiański is hopeful that an improved performance back at London Stadium in a week’s time will see them through.
“It’s a very frustrating result,” he said. “After a poor first 45 minutes I think we controlled the game better in the second half. We had some chances, but in the end they scored the one that counted.
“But, we’ve been in similar situations to this before, and I think now is when our experience could be key. Maybe the extra pressure will push us on to get the win we need.
“We know we will have to perform better, though. Overall we weren’t good enough tonight, we need more energy and there are lots of things we’ll be looking at and wanting to do better.”
Freiburg survived a lengthy VAR check for handball at the end of four minutes of added time, and Fabiański, who was way back at the other end of the pitch, explained what was going through his mind while the final decision was being made.
And finally, having been backed by approximately 2,200 passionate fans who had battled travel disruptions to make it to south-west Germany, the Irons’ No1 stressed how much he hopes to deliver them the right result by the end of the second leg.
Fabiański added: “The penalty incident was very far away, and I haven’t seen the replays, but it was strange that it took so long.
“Once the referee goes to the screen you think that luck might be on your side, but it wasn’t meant to be tonight and we have to move on.
“We can always count on our fans, and we really appreciate their efforts to come and support us as always. They always turn up in their numbers and back us, and we know it will be the same next week. Hopefully we can get the job done for them.”
