David Moyes was sent to the stands in the dying moments of the game as Sunderland were knocked out of this season’s EFL Cup competition thanks to a Sofiane Boufal wonder goal.
The Black Cats were undone just after the hour mark after Southampton's record signing launched a stunning 25-yard strike into the top corner to secure his side’s place in the quarter-finals.
After the final whistle, a disappointed Moyes conceded that despite the poor result, he was buoyed by his team’s performance.
“I think we deserved to leave the game with a lot more than we have done. We lost to a really good goal and there’s nothing we could have done about it
“There are positives to take. I think we played well and we had more control in the game than we have had in previous ones.,” he told SAFSee.
“We were much more improved tonight; I hope these improvements will start getting us the results we need,” Moyes continued.
The Sunderland boss also heaped praise on the 1,500 supporters that made the trip to the south coast and packed out the away end to cheer on their team.
“It was great for the fans to make the trip and support us. We’re very grateful to them. They made great noise and we came so close to getting them a result.”