Gareth Taylor says he told his Manchester City players to be proud in defeat as they were beaten in extra time to lose the Women's FA Cup final on Sunday.
City twice came from behind against Chelsea at Wembley to force extra time in a tug-of-war final, but had no answer to Sam Kerr's extra-time winner and the players sank to the floor at full time.
The defeat brings City's eventful season to an end, which saw them recover from an awful, injury-impacted start to successfully qualify for the Champions League, win the Continental Cup, and reach this FA Cup final. Taylor said before the game that defeat on Sunday wouldn't make the season a failure, and he only had positive words for his beaten side.
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Taylor said: "I felt we were the dominant team in large periods, we started well, had good chances. We showed good character to bounce back from a disappointing goal to give away.
"In the second half we were controlling the game, the last 20 minutes we were excellent. We were the only team in extra time to go and do it. We make a slight error on halfway that costs us. It's difficult then as Chelsea can see the game out.
"I'm supremely proud of the team, we were excellent, we showed character. My feeling isn't disappointed. We wanted to lift the trophy, we wanted to do it again. my feeling is pride in how the team played. There are areas to improve on, sure, there are mistakes that were made.
"The only disappointment is that if you give Chelsea three goals you have to do a lot. We didn't give them too many chances, nullified the threat, created chances ourselves. This is football, it can happen. You can dominate but come out of it with nothing to show."
Taylor also revealed that he told his players to use their strong end to the season - they won 21 of 24 games - to their advantage next year.
"It's always strength in adversity," he said. "Everybody suffers in tough moments, you find out whos with you and who isn't and find a lot about yourself.
"It would be magic if you could pick up the second half of the season and place it at the beginning and everything's great! Working with the same people for a number of years allows you to do good things. If you've got a plan, people need time to implement it. A year or two isn't enough.
"It's a team game, I'm really proud of the team. It's disappointing that we finish the last game with this feeling. We need to take a step back at how we achieved it. I said to the players 'be disappointed but also be really proud'. That's my overriding feeling, I'm proud."
