West Ham United Development Squad manager Nick Haycock was pleased with his side's effort against Manchester United despite a narrow 2-1 defeat.
The visitors took the lead in the first half through the highly rated James Wilson before Elliot Lee equalised with his fifth goal in four matches for the Hammers.
The Red Devils claimed the three points late on in the second half after Will Keane finished from close range.
Speaking after the game, Haycock said: "When I saw their team sheet before the game I knew it was going to be a tough ask. They had a lot of Premier league experience in there. I think their quality showed tonight, they had a higher calibre of player out there.
"I thought we did well in the first half to contain them well. We limited them to only few chances. All week we worked on being more resilient because against Bilbao we conceded too many sloppy goals.
"In the second half it was slightly disappointing because we wanted the team to pass the ball. We don't set up a team just to defend, we didn't keep the ball well enough which put us under pressure."
After conceding five goals against Athletic Bilbao last week, the Hammers put in a much more resolute performance.
"Yeah I think you can say that because we kept them down to two goals. We're disappointed with the second goal because we think it's a foul and we were on the attack at the time. In terms of defending as a group as think we were better tonight."
Manchester United fielded a strong side including ex-West Ham graduate Michael Carrick as well as experienced first team players such as Anders Lindegaard, Tyler Blackett and James Wilson.
Haycock continued: "I said to the boys in there if you can compete against Manchester United you'll be able to beat most sides in the league. I think come the end of the season, they'll be up there.
"Warren always has a good work ethic about his team. His young players are trying to catch the eye of Louis van Gaal. There as good a side as we'll play, there's no doubt about that. I couldn't fault them in terms of effort."
Another positive for Haycock is striker Elliot Lee's return to goal scoring form. The captain has now netted five goals in four games.
"Yeah, Elliot's always got a goal in him. He'll be disappointed a bit tonight because he was starved of the ball for too long. I can understand his frustration at not receiving the ball enough.
"With him in the team, and his attributes there's always a chance. He's got five goals in four games now and he's still working on other areas of his game."
The Development Squad's next game is away to Norwich City on Thursday 6 November.