Ian Evatt rued some self-inflicted wounds as Wanderers’ Carabao Cup run was finally shot down by the Gunners, writes Pete Oliver.
The Whites lost their third-round tie 5-1 at the home of the Premier League heavyweights as Mikel Arteta’s side extended their unbeaten start to the season in front of nearly 60,000 fans at the Emirates Stadium.
But Evatt felt things could have been closer if his side – denied an apparent penalty early on when Josh Sheehan was bundled over in the box by Gabriel Jesus – hadn’t given a star-studded Arsenal line-up a helping hand with two or three of the Londoners’ goals.
“It's probably as tough as it gets. Certainly, in this country it's as tough a game as you can have. It's hard to criticise the players because they've absolutely run their socks off and you need to against that team,” said the Wanderers’ boss after hopes of a shock and a place in the last-16 for the first time since 2012 were ended.
“We spoke this morning and yesterday about making them earn it, making them work hard for their goals and they are more than capable of it because they have some fantastic players. But a couple of the goals we conceded were self-inflicted which is disappointing.
“I thought he should have had a penalty for sure. Whether that would have made them angry or not I don't know but also they didn't create a great deal (in the first half) and the two real chances they had they scored both.
“We had a couple of big chances, Scotty didn't hit the target and Macca didn't hit the target, and they are the fine margins against the best. If you don't score you get punished.
“We can be pleased that we created moments but the goals were self-inflicted and made it really difficult for us. I thought 5-1 was probably harsh. I thought it was a tighter game than that at times but this is as tough as it gets and there's a huge gap between us and where they are right now.”
Wanderers gave their fantastic following of over 4,000 fans something to cheer when Aaron Collins struck to make it 3-1 early in the second half and offer hope of a possible fightback after Declan Rice and a double from Ethan Nwaneri had netted for the hosts.
But further goals from international men Raheem Sterling and Kai Havertz killed off that prospect with Wanderers now swiftly turning their attention to Saturday’s lunch-time trip to Crawley Town and the chance to make it back-to-back League One wins.
“It was largely an enjoyable experience, but I've said to the players it's gone, it's finished. We have to now focus on Saturday and getting a result at Crawley,” Evatt told Wanderers TV.
“We earned this cup tie. It was great for the club, financially great for the club, and great for the fans to come to a big stadium and a big team again.
“But this is done and we have to focus on building on what was an excellent result and performance against Reading on Saturday and we have to take that into Crawley now.”
Watch the manager’s full post-match interview and hear from goalscorer Aaron Collins on Wanderers TV HERE