United player-coach Graham Kavanagh was left disappointed after the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final on Sunday as he was unable to add to his 2000 winners medal with Stoke City. We caught up with him after the game for his reaction to the defeat.

He said: "You can't enjoy a game like today when you get beaten 4-1 and to be quite honest we got battered.

"We're disappointed in the team performance. Collectively we didn't make it difficult for them and conceded the goals at bad times.

"All the things people say about the big occasion, how you've got to stand up and be counted, we didn't do it. We've come away with a heavy defeat and the lads are all a bit down about it. It's disappointing but we have to remember that we took the plaudits for our performance in the area final against Leeds so it's fair that we face the music for the performance today.

"We have to take positives from the cup runs we've had this season though. We can't compete with the finances and number of fans of the big clubs in League 1, but we've managed to compete well with them on the pitch on several occasions this season.

"Once you get to the final it's not a case of enjoying the day out, you want to win it. We played Southampton earlier this season and drew 1-1 with them and we were unlucky not to win that game. We just didn't see this result coming at all which is what makes it all the more harder to deal with.

"We knew they were very confident coming into the game but we felt the same with our good form in the last couple of weeks. But it's a cup final and you don't really expect them to score in the way they did on a day like this. We've gifted them the chances for their goals.

"The game plan was to contain them and keep the pitch narrow as often as we could, get someone infront of Lambert and not allow him to dictate play from a forward position. But that's exactly what he did do. He was the big difference between the two teams, they got the ball up to him, he linked play and got his goal.

"The fans were fantastic today and you'd never have guessed they were outnumbered by 2 to 1. The crowds haven't been too high lately and as the chairman and directors have said, it's not sustainable for the position we're aiming for in the league. If we can get maybe a few thousand of them to start coming through the turnstiles at Brunton Park a bit more often then maybe this won't have been a failure and instead turn into a success of sorts.

"We're all disappointed now but we've got to put it behind us quickly as we've got another game coming up on Friday against Bristol Rovers. We'll be looking to win that and then kick on and secure a place in the top half of the table, which combined with the performances in the cups, would be a massive improvement on last season."

United Player subscribers can view a video interview with Graham Kavanagh later this week.