Newcastle United winger Christian Atsu is crestfallen by Tuesday’s penalty defeat to Hull City in the League Cup quarter-finals, but has urged his side to move on.
The Magpies held the Tigers to a 1-1 draw after extra time at the KCOM Stadium, but were eventually eliminated following a 3-1 defeat on penalties.
Atsu, who was an 81st minute substitute, scored his side’s solitary spot kick.
“You can see that everyone is very disappointed with this loss, but we have to refocus now on the games ahead which are more important now than the one we’ve just played,” he told his club’s official website.
“It’s so disappointing when you lose games like this but you have to react quickly.
“I think that after we lost at home to Blackburn, today we came here and played a very good game, and unfortunately we lost a game we could have won.”
Newcastle will be competing only in the English Championship where they play Nottingham Forest on Friday.
“We have a league game on Friday, and we can’t be thinking about this game. We have to concentrate on the game ahead. On Friday, we have to give everything, and we have to react quickly,” Atsu said.
“It’s very, very disappointing because we could have won the game, and then [there was] a lack of concentration. They got one chance and then they equalised. Penalties are just 50-50, and they won. We’re really disappointed.
“They had the red card and then we scored, and we knew that it would be difficult for them to score. But the chance that they got, they scored. I thought we played a very good game, but the result was not the best for us.”
Atsu is with Newcastle on a season-long loan from Chelsea.
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