Derry City manager Tiernan Lynch said his side “got punished” during their 1-0 Uefa Conference League second qualifying round defeat against Rijeka which ended their European hopes.
Croatian side Rijeka had a slender one-goal lead ahead of the second leg at the Brandywell before Daniel Adu-Adjei’s goal after just 14 minutes extended their advantage.
Derry struggled to respond and could not test stopper Aleksa Todorovic enough to find a way back into the tie.
“I am hugely disappointed,” Lynch told BBC Sport NI after the game.
“I think we need to be a team that plays a little bit more and becomes a little bit braver and, when you do that, things happen.
“We want to be able to play at this level and we want to have the confidence and belief in ourselves and each other to play at this level, but we got punished.”
After a promising performance in the away leg, there was a sense of hope and anticipation before kick-off at the Brandywell.
Those feelings were strengthened when Derry made a bright start to the match and pushed forward from the first whistle.
However, the Croatian side scored through their first chance of the game before they used their experience to slow the tempo down and secure their spot in the third qualifying round when they will face Ilves of Finland.
“For me, the turning point was the goal,” he continued.
“I think that Micky [Michael Duffy] had a good chance and obviously Liam Boyce had a great chance. If there’s one person you want it to fall to, you want it to fall to Boyce.
“I think early in the game he had a little twinge in his hamstring, so I don’t think that helped him.
“However, the big turning point for us was when we conceded and it probably knocked the steam out of us a little bit. One goal, we felt like we were always in the game but two, we probably felt like we had a mountain to climb.”