The Blues fought hard to overturn our one-goal deficit in the second leg of the semi-final at the Emirates Stadium, and battled deep into stoppage time before the Premier League leaders ended our hopes with a goal on the counter.

Our approach to contain the home team’s threat with a back three before changing things up and increasing the attacking tempo in the last 30 minutes came close to paying off, but ultimately we were eliminated 4-2 on aggregate.

The fact that we matched the high-flying Gunners over 90 minutes was little consolation for our head coach as he reflected on a missed opportunity to reach a final at Wembley.

‘I’m extremely disappointed every time I lose a game of football,’ said Rosenior. ‘Every time we win, I’m happy. Every time we lose, I’m not happy.

‘There were aspects of our game that I’m very happy with, but you could see how devastated the lads were after the game, given what we put in. We believed we could come here and turn it around.

‘In terms of the control and domination we had in the second half, there were moments when I felt it was there for us, we just couldn’t take it. So I’m hurting, but we need to move on from this very quickly because we have another game in three days.

‘We didn’t achieve what we wanted to, but it’s not about game plans, it’s about results. I have to give our players so much credit for what they put into the game. We have to make sure that we take the positives from that, but we’re here to get results.’

While disappointed, Rosenior praised the fight shown by his players, especially given our exertions during a busy schedule.

‘The fight and spirit were there, but unfortunately, we didn’t quite have the quality moments,’ he continued. ‘We did get into the final third many times during the second half, but we didn’t take advantage of those moments.'