West Ham manager David Moyes was full of praise for his side despite their exit to Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League.
The Hammers faced a difficult task at the London Stadium having lost the first leg 2-0 in Germany last week.
Moyes’ sided started well and got at the newly crowned Bundesliga champions with Michail Antonio heading home after 13 minutes.
Moyes proud of West Ham despite exit
The only regret the Scot may have is his team could have been two or three nil up at half time with Jarrod Bowen and Antonio having further chances.
West Ham clearly tired after such a relentless first half and just couldn’t find a second goal as Leverkusen grew into the contest.
In the end Jeremie Frimpong’s deflected strike levelled the scores on the night and ensured Leverkusen extended their unbeaten run this season to an incredible 44 games.
Moyes couldn’t fault his players after the game and told West Ham’s official website:
“The team did brilliantly, they were fantastic and they deserve all the plaudits for their performance.They were magnificent from the start to the end.
“We couldn’t quite keep the energy up as much in the second half, but great credit to them.
“We’d earned the right to score the first goal.
“If anything, we should probably have scored three in the first half and we didn’t take the chances when we should have done.
“That was probably the biggest reason why we didn’t get it.”
Moyes added that he believes West Ham can give most teams a game but bemoaned a lack of squad depth.
“I’m proud, but I always think we can give most teams a game”, the 60-year-old continued.
“We’ve had the likes of Man City here and Liverpool here over the years, and I’ve always said I want to give the big teams a game.
“I thought we gave them a really good game tonight. Just not quite enough and that’s the difference.
“They’re probably at a higher level and they’ve certainly got more to pick from coming off the bench, which they had again tonight.
“It made it difficult for us to keep up the same levels of energy we had in the first half tonight.”
West Ham’s focus will now be fully on the Premier League as they aim to continue their European adventure next season having made it to the latter stages of European competitions three years in a row.
