Alex Song feels that a point was well within West Ham United's grasp after they fought back with a resilient display to run Manchester United right to the wire on Saturday.
Despite losing 2-1, Song, who captained the side for the match at Old Trafford, felt that it was important the Hammers recovered from what he said was a disappointing start to the game, which saw United race into a 2-0 lead through goals from Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie.
The Hammers found their composure, grabbed a goal back through Diafra Sakho and went into the half-time break on the up. They came out for the second half and put pressure on Louis van Gaal's team and were dramatically denied an 89th minute equaliser when Kevin Nolan's effort was deemed off-side.
Song felt that collective spirit meant that the Hammers were not far away from taking a point back to east London.
"We didn't start the game as we wanted, they scored the two goals and we weren't happy with the beginning, not like how we played last weekend against Liverpool," he explained.
"But we got a goal back which made the score close, we were putting the pressure on them as this was important. In the second half we were much better and in the end yes, we are disappointed that we went away with nothing, because what we deserved in the second half was much more, we deserved the point."
Song collected a man of the match award from supporters of both clubs at Old Trafford on Saturday following the match and he was also proud of another accolade on the day, captaining Sam Allardyce's side against the Red Devils in what was his second Barclays Premier League game for the Hammers.
In the absence of vice-captain Mark Noble, who was ruled out of the match after picking up a calf injury in training on Friday, and club captain Kevin Nolan only just back on the bench following a spell on side with a fractured shoulder, it fell to Song to take on the skipper duties, something he was very proud to do.
"It was a great honour for me," he added. "I wanted to take on this responsibility well to thank the manager for giving this opportunity to me for the match, my team-mates and to do well for our fans, who were all fantastic in backing us throughout the match.
"It was very good for me and I was delighted to do this. We did not win in this match but we have confidence to take from this and now we look to our next match, at home to QPR to do again what we can do and hopefully get the right result for us."