Manager offers his views following Wanderers' meeting with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge
Dougie Freedman paid tribute to his side’s attitude and commitment in Wednesday evening’s Capital One Cup third round clash with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Despite ultimately exiting the competition on the night, Wanderers frustrated the Premier League leaders for large parts of the match.
Matt Mills equalised Kurt Zouma’s opener inside the opening 45, though Oscar would ultimately win the game for the hosts.
“When we saw the teamsheet tonight, we knew that Chelsea were taking the competition seriously,” said the manager in his post-match press conference.
“We had a plan to stay in the game and make things difficult for Chelsea – we knew our goalkeeper and defenders would have to play well for that to happen.
“I felt as a team we stuck at it for the duration of the game and in the last 15 minutes, we opened things up and pushed Chelsea close and were unlucky not to find a second equaliser late on.
“Overall, Chelsea were deserved winners, but the spirit and commitment our group of players showed was fantastic throughout.
“I was pleased with our performance as a defensive unit – the stats suggest Chelsea were by far the better side, but I felt we frustrated them to a number of attempts from long distance.
“We scored a good goal that was well worked on the training ground - the players are tuned in to what we are trying to do here and that certainly showed tonight.
“Despite exiting the competition, we can come away from the game with a positive feeling. We encouraged and backed each other from the first to the last whistle.
“We now head into a run of Championship games looking for wins. We’ve been playing well for large parts but haven’t been able to find the result.
“We’ve got to take the positives from our performance at Chelsea into our games in the Championship.”