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Martinez: Scoreline was harsh

Roberto Martinez admitted after today's FA Cup defeat at Arsenal that the 4-1 defeat was hard to take given how hard his team had tried to win the tie and what he viewed as a soft penalty award for the Gunners' second goal.

The Blues were dumped out of the competition at the Quarter Final stage for the second season running, the victims of clinical finishing by Arsene Wenger's men after Mikel Arteta had put them 2-1 up from the spot after 67 minutes.

"It's hard to take but we lost a tie giving everything and trying to win," said Martinez.

"The scoreline at the end doesn't reflect what happened in the game. It shows what we have in the dressing room, trying to go forward right until the final whistle.

"We weren't happy with the first goal and we need to be much better with our defensive duties. But once we steadied ourselves after the first 20 minutes we were where we wanted to be.

"Unfortunately, we couldn't score that second goal to put the game in our favour."

Romelu Lukaku allowed an excellent chance on the counter-attack evaporate late in the first half at 1-1 and Ross Barkley swept another good chance over the bar early in the second, but once the Gunners had retaken the lead, they killed Everton off as they chased the game.

Martinez acknowledged that his side needed to take their chances but also felt the penalty award for Gareth Barry's challenge on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was harsh.

"I felt it was a situation where Gareth was fighting for the ball with Oxlade-Chamberlain," Martinez continued. "Of course there was contact but was there enough contact to give a penalty?

"They are difficult decisions and you need luck to be in your favour. Then, from our point of view, there was the chance before that.

"We wanted to make it an open game and have the opportunities to score the second goal. Nine out of 10 times Ross always hits the target from those positions."

Quotes sourced from Sky Sports

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