STEVENAGE goalscorer Luke Freeman admitted he and his team-mates were very upset at losing to Everton 2-1 in extra-time as they exited the Capital One Cup on Wednesday.

Freeman had put Stevenage ahead to stun Goodison Park, but the hosts levelled with the final kick of the first half and grabbed an extra-time winner with five minutes to go through Marouane Fellaini.

After the disappointment, Freeman said: “Everton are a great side and we held them for the whole game, including extra-time.

“All the lads are very positive, but at the same time very upset because no-one likes losing.”

He added: “We like to think we are physically strong as a team, and we all believed we had it in our locker to do it.

“All we wanted to do was keep what we were doing as when it goes to penalties anything can happen.

“We were working very hard and were very hard to break down [but] it wasn’t to be.”

Stevenage boast a remarkable cup record; the club has routinely beaten higher opposition, including dumping Ipswich Town out of the Capital One Cup in the first round.

Therefore, despite the gulf in size between the two teams, the 21-year-old believes his side put in a performance to be proud of, and deserved the lottery of a penalty shoot-out against their Premier League opponents.

“They had their chances, but they didn’t take them,” he said.

“When you get to the last half of extra-time you think you have done the hard work and it was on to penalties.

“It was a tough game for us, but I thought we did very well as a team.”

Even though Stevenage have been dumped out of the cup, Freeman admitted he relished the opportunity to play at one of the Premier League’s most iconic grounds.

“I love playing against the bigger teams it’s a lot more technical and a lot more football in there whereas League 1 is a very physical league,” he explained.

“It was very good, it was one of the best things I’ve done in my career so far.

“I’m still only 21, but I really enjoyed it tonight.”

He reserved praised for the fans who travelled up to see the game, calling them “terrific”.

“The fans were terrific; they were loud as anything and fair play to them for coming all the way up on a mid-week game.”