Goalkeeper Kelle Roos could not hide his disappointment at full-time following Derby County's Emirates FA Cup Fifth Round exit against Premier League side Brighton & Hove Albion.
Roos could do nothing to prevent the Seagulls taking a two goal advantage going into the half time break, whilst with 10 minutes remaining the Rams got themselves back into the game.
Ashley Cole pulled a goal back for Frank Lampard’s side and despite Derby throwing everything forward in a bid to take the tie to extra-time, they just fell short.
“It was very disappointing,” Roos told RamsTV. “We came here to show what we have in the dressing room and what we can do to very good teams like we have done in the season already.
“I think today it was a very tough first-half, we didn’t really get close enough to interrupt their rhythm and from that moment onwards it was one-way traffic.
“We had the ball sometimes but they were very compact. It was hard to break them down and at times we didn’t move the ball quickly enough to break them down.
“In the second half I still think that the quality we had before we scored wasn’t really like us, we are better than that and we have to realise that.
“We have to be strong with ourselves and look at ourselves in the mirror. It is up to the league now, that’s clear.
“I think we can compete with teams like this and we have done, but we didn’t today for big parts of the game so we have to be honest with ourselves and move on back into the league and get our heads down and work again.”
The goalkeeper pulled off a sting of good saves to ensure the game did not get away from the Rams.
However, now Derby have exited the competition, the Dutchman remains focused on helping the club in the final 15 games of the season.
“There are no two ways around it now, we need to focus on the league,” he said.
“We have to stick together as a group and realise that we have to improve things, work hard, keep our heads down and get results in the league.
“After that we can talk about promotion, but for now we need to keep our heads down, work and improve quality.”
