Walsall assistant manager Brian Dutton spoke to the local press following the Saddlers' EFL Trophy bonus point defeat to Chelsea Under-21s and admitted he was disappointed with the result.
The Saddlers earned a point as the match reached full-time with the scores level following Wes McDonald's opener and Dynel Simeu's equaliser, but the young Blues earned an extra point with a penalty shoot-out win.
Dutton, who often oversees the Saddlers' development team, believes the team's defensive display deserved a better result and insisted his side should be proud as they took the game to their much-fancied opponents.
Striker Elijah Adebayo has a particularly good game with the former Fulham man looking to get into the box whenever he could as he looked to add to the goal he scored against Grimsby Town in the league.
Speaking to the Express & Star, Brian said; "It’s not the result we wanted but in terms of performance I thought we were very good defensively.
"Out of possession we managed to contain Chelsea and counter at various opportunities in the match to look to score.
"A good night’s work defensively but offensively we just want that killer instinct in the team, which will come in time, but it wasn’t there tonight.
"Chelsea are a good side, they have good players of the top calibre. We knew it was going to be a difficult game.
"We watched the game against Oxford and they’re a top team. We knew we were in for a tough night but I thought we were on the front foot and the better team overall.
"In terms of taking the game to Chelsea, the lads can be proud of getting on the front foot."
The match ultimately went to a penalty shoot-out as the sides could not be separated. Sadly for the Saddlers, right-back Cameron Norman saw his effort saved as Chelsea netted all five of their spot-kicks to win the contest and take the bonus point.
Dutton, insisted his team work hard to make the most of penalties but were thwarted as Chelsea stopper Lucas Bergstrom was able to make the save, instantly putting the Saddlers on the backfoot.
Brian continued; "Penalties - that old cliché of being a lottery, I don’t agree with that. You can do as much work on the training pitch and you can bear the fruits of that.
"We do a lot of work regarding penalties and we’re coming into this confident in the penalty shoot-out.
"Especially confident with Cam Norman because he’s one of the purer strikers of the ball and unfortunately their keeper has made a great save.
"We’ll put that down to a little bit of bad fortune but I don’t agree with it being a lottery in penalty shoot-outs. The lads did all they can and we were a little bit unfortunate."