Brighton & Hove Albion striker Jurgen Locadia says the side can take a lot of pride from their performance, but was left frustrated after exiting the Emirates FA Cup with a 2-0 defeat to Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Locadia had several chances to get Albion on the scoresheet and felt the scoreline was not an accurate reflection of the contest.
He said, “I think we deserved more. I had a few shots from distance, and unfortunately the keeper made a good save from one of them and I also had a header that was close to the target.
“I am happy with the performance, but felt I should’ve scored at least one goal.
“I think we can be very proud and the gaffer said that we need to be, because we played well and created a lot of chances. The only thing we didn’t do was score.
“I am mad now, but on the other side I’m proud because we played good football and we showed the fans that we can play football. Against Everton, we didn’t play well, so it was a good answer to that performance, but not the perfect answer.”
The Dutchman admits he was surprised at the amount of space which Albion had throughout the game against United, but also highlighted the quality which Jose Mourinho’s side possess, after they took advantage of their two clear-cut chances in the game.
“The gap between United’s midfield and defence was big and we’ve got players that can play between the lines like Beram [Kayal] and Pascal [Gross]. We did a job, but we didn’t score.
“But they showed their quality, as they had two chances and scored two goals. Unfortunately we didn’t score any goals ourselves.”
Despite the disappointing result, Locadia believes that replicating similar performances in the remaining eight games of the season will be enough for the side to maintain their Premier League status.
He also praised the support from the club’s fans, with over 5,000 making the long journey north from the south coast.
“If we play like the way we did against Man United, then we have a big chance to stay in the league.
"The only thing is to score goals. We’ve scored goals recently, and if we played like we did against United, we’ll stay up.
“I appreciated the support from all the fans that travelled and it was a good atmosphere. I want to thank everybody for coming.”