Slaven Bilic cut a frustrated figure following West Ham United’s Capital One Cup third-round exit at Leicester City.
The Hammers saw their hopes of advancing ended in cruel fashion as Andy King headed the unbeaten Foxes through four minutes from the end of extra time.
Earlier, Mauro Zarate had cancelled out Joe Dodoo’s early opener in a see-saw first half before the West Ham saw two penalty appeals turned down for challenges on Victor Moses and Mark Noble – who was booked for simulation.
Leicester created the better chances on the night, and could have secured their passage earlier had it not been for the heroics of Adrian, but the Spaniard was denied the chance to be a shootout hero again when King nodded Christian Fuchs’ left-wing cross high into the top corner.
“It’s a big disappointment of course, because we approached this game and this competition with the aim to go through,” Bilic told West Ham TV. “We knew it was going to be tough because we were playing against a team which is unbeaten and on their own ground, but when you fight and concede a goal with three minutes to go in extra time of course you are disappointed.
“It was a very open game. To be fair they started well and were better than us in the first 20 minutes. We weren’t aggressive enough and were second best and they scored a goal very early.
“Then we started playing a bit better and from the 20th minute until the end of the 90 minutes, we were good. We created but unfortunately we didn’t score. Then, in extra time, they created the chances and we were a little bit tired.
“They could have scored earlier because of a couple of mistakes, and Adrian made a couple of really good saves.”
When asked if his team should have had a penalty when Noble appeared to be fouled by Danny Simpson in the tenth minute of extra time, only to be shown a yellow card for simulation instead.
“I think definitely we should have had one for the one on Mark Noble because he had no reason whatsoever to go down,” the manager observed. “For me it was a clear penalty and that was a crucial moment in the game.”
On a disappointing night, there was a positive in the sight of Andy Carroll making his first start since February.
“That was really good to see, Andy coming back from injury and starting the game after a long, long injury,” he agreed.
West Ham will hope to return to winning ways when they host Norwich City at a sold out Boleyn Ground in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
The Hammers saw their hopes of advancing ended in cruel fashion as Andy King headed the unbeaten Foxes through four minutes from the end of extra time.
Earlier, Mauro Zarate had cancelled out Joe Dodoo’s early opener in a see-saw first half before the West Ham saw two penalty appeals turned down for challenges on Victor Moses and Mark Noble – who was booked for simulation.
Leicester created the better chances on the night, and could have secured their passage earlier had it not been for the heroics of Adrian, but the Spaniard was denied the chance to be a shootout hero again when King nodded Christian Fuchs’ left-wing cross high into the top corner.
“It’s a big disappointment of course, because we approached this game and this competition with the aim to go through,” Bilic told West Ham TV. “We knew it was going to be tough because we were playing against a team which is unbeaten and on their own ground, but when you fight and concede a goal with three minutes to go in extra time of course you are disappointed.
“It was a very open game. To be fair they started well and were better than us in the first 20 minutes. We weren’t aggressive enough and were second best and they scored a goal very early.
“Then we started playing a bit better and from the 20th minute until the end of the 90 minutes, we were good. We created but unfortunately we didn’t score. Then, in extra time, they created the chances and we were a little bit tired.
“They could have scored earlier because of a couple of mistakes, and Adrian made a couple of really good saves.”
When asked if his team should have had a penalty when Noble appeared to be fouled by Danny Simpson in the tenth minute of extra time, only to be shown a yellow card for simulation instead.
“I think definitely we should have had one for the one on Mark Noble because he had no reason whatsoever to go down,” the manager observed. “For me it was a clear penalty and that was a crucial moment in the game.”
On a disappointing night, there was a positive in the sight of Andy Carroll making his first start since February.
“That was really good to see, Andy coming back from injury and starting the game after a long, long injury,” he agreed.
West Ham will hope to return to winning ways when they host Norwich City at a sold out Boleyn Ground in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday afternoon.