Harry Brockbank says gutted St Pat's have to handle their Euro exit with pride and get back there again next term.
Brockbank is heartbroken that the Saints went out to CSKA having taken a 1-0 first leg lead home from Sofia - and in the manner that it happened.
The former Bolton defender was harshly penalised for handball in the 81st minute, with the tie level at 1-1 at Tallaght Stadium on Thursday night - the ball struck Mauricio Garcez on the arm before also hitting Brockbank.
READ MORE: St Pat's disgusted by 'vile racist messages' directed at two players after CSKA tie
The visitors made no mistake from the spot and, disappointed that a number of key decisions went against them, the Inchicore club must quickly get over missing out on the ECL play-offs.
“Yeah, it’s just so frustrating to go out like that," said Brockbank. "We obviously feel it’s not a penalty. It’s half a yard away and I don’t feel I can get out of the way of it.
“Looking back on the video, it looks like it hits his hand first and then mine.
"The fact that he’s not even appealed himself shows that…look I don’t want to go too much into the refs and start blaming other people. It is what it is.
"Conceding two sloppy goals let us down - the first goal is a set-piece.
“Obviously the officiating it’s very important but if you harp on about that too much you’re looking for excuses. At the end of the day we’ve had chances ourselves and two sloppy goals have let us down."
Brockbank, whose mother, father and brother made the trip from England to take in the game, believes the Saints should have made the most of chances made over both legs, but he believes the team will take huge positives from the experience.
“We can take immense pride from it," he said. "Obviously the fans who came out, I’d like to thank them as well, unbelievable support home and away, they’ve been great.
"I just think we’ve got to take pride from it and the aim now is to get back here next season.
“I’ve loved it - the away games, obviously the result in Mura was class and then we went to Bulgaria and got a great result and unfortunately Thursday is very disappointing."
In that regard the Saints must lift themselves for a massive home clash against Sligo Rovers today (5pm).
Tim Clancy's side are fourth but can be overtaken by the Bit O'Red, whose own ECL adventure ended with a 1-0 victory over Viking at the Showgrounds on Thursday, having lost the first leg 5-1.
"We’ve got to lift ourselves because obviously in the table it’s quite tight so it’s a big game for both teams," said Brockbank.
"We can’t focus on Thursday too much. We’ll look to go again on Sunday and put things right.
"We’ve got 12 big games now so we need maximum points from all of them. We’ll be going into every game looking to win it.
"We’ve been narrowly beaten by a team that has been good in Europe over the last couple of seasons. We just need to bounce back and get back here next season.
"We’ve kept two clean sheets away at places we weren’t even expected to get a result so I think if we can take that into the league we should be fine for getting top three.”
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