West Ham United U18's captain Reece Burke said he believes his side were good enough to beat Southampton in the FA Youth Cup Third Round on Tuesday evening.
The Hammers took an early lead when Josh Pask diverted Djair Parfitt-Williams' corner past Harry Isted. However the Saints rallied as Dan Demkiv equalised as he ran onto to Josh Sims sublime through ball.
Into the second half and the Hammers' task was made much harder when Manny Onariase was sent off for fouling the on rushing striker.
The Saints took the lead through Callum Slattery's blistering effort as he beat Sam Howes from 25 yards out.
Speaking after the game, Burke said: "I thought we started the game really well. The first 20 minutes we had opportunities to go at least 2-0 and maybe 3-0 ahead. We conceded a sloppy goal to let them back into the game. Going down to ten men didn't help either. Once they scored the second goal it was very hard to get back into the game.
"Credit to Southampton, they're a good team. But the team we brought today was much better than them. Going out today I thought we would win.
"I thought I did well today. I tried to get the boys going. Obviously you need some leaders out there, I tried to do my bit but you need everyone to be a leader particularly when you go down to ten men."