Hull City boss Steve Bruce admitted his side were 'second best by a long shot' after suffering an early exit from the FA Cup at Arsenal.
The Tigers were swept aside by the Gunners at the Emirates in the 2-0 defeat, in which Alexis Sanchez starred for the Cup holders.
Bruce rued a lack of cutting edge up front and admitted it had hurt against a quality team such as Arsene Wenger's men.
"When you come here, Arsenal do take control and take the ball on the edge of your box. In Sanchez they've got a world class striker and for me he was the difference," Bruce said.
"The biggest disappointment is the goal (Per Mertesacker's opener) was the first we've conceded from a corner all season. We huffed and puffed but did not have the cutting edge up front to cause a threat in front of goal.
"We had good control of the ball, but was obvious that few players needed the game. Yannick Sagbo, Tom Ince, Maynor Figuora in particular have been out on loan, Tom Huddlestone needed the game.
"I thought Paul McShane was excellent and Harry Maguire was terrific, him and Stephen Quinn were big positives. Harry, on his real big debut, was outstanding for us.
"They are better for it, but it was a tough afternoon to come here for a fourth game in eight or nine days. We weren't good enough on the day, Arsenal were better than us.
"We have got no excuses, we're out of the cup unfortunately, but we've got a huge game on Saturday (West Brom)."
Midfielder Mohamed Diame continues to be an injury worry as he is still in a knee brace and yet to recover from a rare tendonitis problem.
He will have the brace removed in a week's time, before having two weeks of rehab and then see specialist to determine if he can play again this season.
