Hong Kong's football team missed their chance to reach the Asian Cup finals after a heartbreaking 2-1 home defeat to Singapore in their crucial Group C qualifier at Kai Tak Sports Park on Tuesday.
Despite leading at half-time, Hong Kong conceded two second-half goals to lose the must-win match.
Head coach Ashley Westwood described the result as devastating but said he believes he will continue in his role. "Yes I think I will be back. As I said before we improved a lot. We are competitive and not sitting back. Our possession increased to 58 percent average, we created more chances, more goals and kept clean sheets," the Englishman said.
Westwood defended his late substitutions, including bringing on Michael Udebuluzor in stoppage time while trailing. "We were down 1-2, in the 81st minute we knew there would be at least seven minutes [added time] but I thought there would be more," he explained.
Westwood also addressed his decision to start goalkeeper Wang Zhen-peng over Tse Ka-wing , citing the need for experience.
When asked if he would apologize for failing to capitalize on their qualification chances after previously drawing with Bangladesh, Westwood was firm. "No, if you give everything there is nothing to apologize for. If we failed for some reason then of course I am disappointed. We are sorry we could not give our fans the fairytale ending we all wanted," he said.
"Nobody wanted to win more than me and the team. Sometimes it is like this - the luck was not on our side, we cannot control the referee's decisions, the opponent played well," Westwood added. "Never apologize for giving everything, never apologize for improving and getting better - that is what we are doing now."
