Calum McFarlane admits it was a disappointing afternoon at Wembley as we suffered defeat in the FA Cup final, but felt we did well to match Manchester City on the pitch in a game which could have gone either way.
Chelsea suffered a narrow loss in a tense FA Cup final at Wembley on Saturday afternoon. In a game of few chances, it was Antoine Semenyo’s solitary second-half goal which settled things in Manchester City’s favour, despite Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez going close for the Blues after the break.
Our interim head coach felt there was little between the two teams, even if that provides little consolation for him and the Blues players after our chance of lifting a trophy slipped away.
'I thought it was an evenly matched game,' said McFarlane. 'Both teams had moments of control. Both teams had momentum at different times. Two really good sides.
'I've got a lot of respect for Manchester City and what they've done over the last period of success. So congratulations to them first. A disappointing result, but a very evenly matched game.'
Although that disappointment is the overriding emotion after the final whistle at Wembley, there is also a small feeling of pride at the quality of the performance.
In the last week, Chelsea have held reigning Premier League champions Liverpool for a 1-1 draw at Anfield, and then matched the previous winners Manchester City at Wembley, in a cup final decided by the narrowest of margins.
'I felt we went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the world and I thought there was very little between the sides, in those sort of games between two really good sides,' Calum continued.
'I thought we had momentum at the end of the first half, I thought we had momentum at the start of the second half. If you get that moment of quality and you get yourself in front, it makes the game very different, and we didn't manage to do that.
'We know what this team's capable of. They need to produce that on a more consistent basis. They’ve shown this year that when they're at their best, they're a very difficult side to play against.
'It's a really talented group, there's lots of quality in that group. The fight and heart has been questioned at times, but the last two performances, I don't think you can question that. I think they gave everything today to try and win that trophy for the club.'