Aaron Cresswell said West Ham United would not be looking for any excuses after Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.
The Irons put up a battling performance away to Spurs, but ultimately fell to defeat against the north London side.
An unfortunate Kurt Zouma own-goal and Heung-Min Son’s finish on 24 minutes had given Tottenham a significant early advantage, with Saïd Benrahma volleying in to halve the deficit ten minutes before half-time.
Chasing a way back into the game, David Moyes’ side were ultimately caught on the counter-attack late in the second half, with Son slotting in his second and Tottenham’s third to seal the win on 89 minutes.
Despite the match falling less than three days after the Irons played 120 minutes against Sevilla in a Europa League round of 16 clash on Thursday, Cresswell refused to seek any excuses for the loss.
“There’re no excuses,” Cresswell said. “It’s disappointing from us.
"The first 15-20 minutes were really sloppy. We didn’t get going in the game and they scored two goals which gave us a big uphill battle. Today wasn’t our day.
“We got in a good position, coming in at 2-1 at half-time. We scored from a corner kick, kind of out of nothing really. We didn’t really create too many chances.
"Set-pieces are a massive part of our game. We’ve worked at that since the gaffer came in and it’s a vital part of the way we got our goals.
“I thought, in the second half, we had a little spell of the game where I thought we could have done something with the ball. But we weren’t quite at it and the goals we conceded were sloppy.
“We aren’t using being tired as any excuse. We played Thursday night, but Tottenham played Wednesday night as well, so we’re not looking for excuses.
"We just weren’t good enough on the day. They played well today and scored some good goals, but on our part it was sloppy.”
Defeat against Tottenham leaves the Irons seventh in the Premier League but Cresswell, who earned club career appearance number 500 in Sunday’s match, knows the side can still round off a special season following the upcoming international break.
He added: “We don’t want anything to drift away from us. Eight games to go, there’s still plenty of points to play for.
"But it’s just frustrating tonight, on the back of Thursday. It was a big game, a derby, and we got beat.
“We’ve got a two-week break now. We’ve got to stay positive, think about the next game, and we’re looking forward to it."