Shelbourne midfielder Mark Coyle cut a somewhat frustrated figure in the aftermath of their Conference League loss to AZ Alkmaar, lamenting the fact that the side, in his words, have still to put in a "90-minute performance" in the competition.
Shels may have kept Troy Parrott relatively quiet in the Netherlands but the concession of two goals in the final 20 minutes saw them slip to another defeat in the competition, their third on the spin.
Joey O'Brien side have only a point to show for their effort and it's now long odds that they'll make the knockout stage, with games against Crystal Palace and NK Celje to come.
Speaking to the media after the game at the AFAS Stadium, Coyle, while accepting Alkmaar's win was merited, also reflected on what might have been.
"We are wee bit disappointed and on the balance of play they did deserved to win, but for 70 minutes we were comfortable enough," he said.
"They had a few half chances [before their opening goal] but so did we and if we had taken one or two of them it might have been a different story. We're sort of fed up talking about hard luck stories. It's obviously disappointing but we have to look forward to two weeks' time."
One point out of 12 makes for grim reading and it's a stat the Letterkenny native is not happy about.
"We're frustrated because we know we have left points behind us in previous games," he added.
"Tonight we were in it and there was a chance for us to nick it. I know we were the underdogs but at the same time we're going out there to try and win the game, that has been the case in every game and so it's disappointing for us we haven't managed to get more points."
When asked what he and his colleagues can do to improve things, Coyle, in a frank assessment, said: "I think sometimes we play within ourselves. We have to embrace the pressure more and express ourselves more.
"It's about taking the learnings from it now when you're exposed to the type of player we faced tonight. The quality is there, we deserve to be here. People know we deserve more than what we got but have not put in a 90-minute performance yet."
