[30] Chris Smalling on a disappointing night

[Red News]

"It was disappointing. For large parts of the game we dealt with all of the crosses and to concede so soon after scoring, from a cross, having defended so well as a team, was really disappointing. It gave them the initiative going forward after that. If we could have just seen it out for five or 10 minutes and let the game settle down they would have been chasing it. We felt that as a team we were very compact and the tactics were working well. But it goes out the window when you concede and it gave them that added drive they needed. We went in at half-time feeling that we'd worked well and filled the spaces. They had a lot of the ball but we had the better chances over the two games with a few one-on-ones. We felt very solid and felt comfortable as they didn't create too many clear chances. We were always thinking about staying compact and giving no goals away. We knew we'd get a chance and we took it but we didn't count for them scoring so soon after."