Jarrod Bowen has given his reaction to West Ham’s defeat to Leeds United in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
Class act West Ham star Jarrod Bowen has made a very frank admission of defeat to Leeds United in the FA Cup quarter-finals for his West Ham side.
Premier League survival battle rivals West Ham and Leeds locked horns for a place in the FA Cup semi-finals at the London Stadium on Sunday in what proved a quarter-final epic that was ultimately decided on penalties.
West Ham were still missing former Leeds star Crysencio Summerville and without him Bowen again proved West Ham’s main threat although Bowen himself then missed a penalty in the shootout that decided the game.
Speaking to West Ham's official website, the England star made a frank admission about just how much the defeat hurt but declared that his men must now recover ahead of a massive league visit of Wolves on Friday night.
Bowen admitted: "I’m gutted. I feel like I’ve let people down. It really hurts because I thought we’d done so much to get back in the game, and I knew how special it would be to get to the semi-finals and give these fans a day out at Wembley.
“Fin has a brilliant moment saving the first penalty, and obviously when you’re up next you’re confident of scoring. You never want to miss in a penalty shootout, especially to go out of the FA Cup, but sometimes you have these low moments and that’s how it is.
“We’ve got a really good group that never gives up, and that’s what you need to play for this Club. It’s one of my biggest mottos, to never throw in the towel, because you never know what might happen in football.
“I hit the post and it fell to Matty, and then you look at the clock and there’s another seven or eight minutes to go. I knew there was another goal in it, and that moment came with Axel. We had a couple of goals disallowed and we felt like we were in the driving seat, but ultimately it wasn’t meant to be.
“I thought Adama [Traoré] was brilliant from start to finish today, and then it’s a big moment for Fin as well, who I told to make himself a hero before he came on. I told him he loved the Club, and he deserved his moment.
“He’s got a really good penalty record, and he had that moment of saving one in the shootout. It’s a special day for him and I’m really happy for him.”
Bowen added: “It hurts tonight, but when it comes to tomorrow we have to go back in, recover, and then look forward to Wolves on Friday night because that’s going to be a massive game.
“We have to put in a performance like we did in the second half and in extra-time today, and we’re going to need everyone. We know the atmosphere the fans created today, and we know everyone’s going in the right direction, so we’ll be ready to go again.”
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