James Tomkins felt West Ham United had passed up a golden opportunity to take points off a much-changed Manchester United side in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday.
David Moyes retained just five of the starting XI that brushed Olympiacos aside in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday and yet Wayne Rooney's first-half double saw the visitors run out 2-0 victors.
Centre-half Tomkins could hardly hide his frustration following the final whistle, insisting very little had gone the Hammers' way on the day.
He told West Ham TV: "We're obviously disappointed, because the side that Manchester United put out was a team that we could have made the most of on Saturday.
"Unfortunately, their qualities have obviously shown again with the two goals. The second one's unfortunate and the first is a great goal. We look at it ourselves as being a disappointing day."
It took just eight minutes for Manchester United to make their mark, with Rooney levering Tomkins off the ball, before lashing a dipping effort over Adrian in the Hammers goal. Spectacular though the finish was, West Ham's No5 maintains that Rooney's initial challenge on the half-way line was an unfair one.
"I felt I got nudged," he confirmed. "It's one of those that you've seen given. It could have gone either way I suppose, but having seen it back, it could have been given. Adrian's not expecting it and it's a one-in-a-million shot. With a player of his ability you can be punished in this game."
Thereafter, Tomkins admits the task was a tough one, with Rooney's opener having taken the wind of out of West Ham sails. And their luck got worse still when Mark Noble's attempted clearance ricocheted off Rooney to double the Red Devils' lead.
"We started OK and they didn't look like scoring. Then they popped up with a worldy goal and that can kill you. That [swing in] momentum just killed us. Nobes [Noble] has gone to clear the ball and the chances of it hitting Rooney and going in the back of the net was just our luck on Saturday.
"Coming in 2-0 down is always a hard thing to come back from against a team like Manchester United. We had a mountain to climb in the second and we tried to give it a go.
"We were a bit unlucky with a few decisions and nothing really fell to us in the box when it could have done. We're disappointed but the bigger game is on Wednesday night now."
Despite defeat at the Boleyn Ground, it was far from all bad news for the Hammers, with each of the division's bottom five clubs losing too. Equally, Sam Allardyce's men need wait just four days for the chance to make amends, with Hull City next to visit east London.
"We can't dwell on it. A lot of the results went our way on Saturday and that's the good thing. Wednesday night's obviously a massive game and we need to get our form back on track.
"We didn't give the fans much to shout about on Saturday. We've disappointed them and we're disappointed ourselves but we'll be back Wednesday night!"