Oxford United boss Michael Appleton said that there was a feeling of frustration after his side lost 2-1 to Coventry City in the EFL Trophy Final at Wembley Stadium.
Appleton told the Football League: “The feeling, you can probably imagine, is of real frustration. “The game was probably decided in both boxes today. Coventry had a hunger and a desire to keep the ball out of the net more than we did.
“When you need to win finals, that's the type of desire you need. They had it in abundance today; they were putting their bodies on the line and making sure they were hard to beat. They weren't going to concede a goal easily. There is more than one way of winning a game of football and it's not just when the ball is at your feet. You've still got to do the other side of it.
“We have had a few occasions this year when we have got ourselves into positions, where we have had an opportunity to kick on and this reminds me of that a little bit.
“Hopefully, we can surprise a few people on Wednesday [at home to Fleetwood], go and win the game and then there will be people thinking we've still got an outside chance of the play-offs, and my question will keep coming back to whether, in those big moments in big games, we can do more positive things. That is yet to be seen with this group.”