Blues winger Chiedozie Ogbene felt the Republic of Ireland’s poor start made their 2-0 defeat to England in Dublin “a hard battle”.
Ogbene was named the official Player of the Match following the UEFA Nations League defeat as he won his 21st cap.
"I think we gave ourselves a hard battle from day one,” he told RTÉ Sport. "The first 20 minutes, just a poor start, two balls in behind cost us the game ultimately.
"The gaffer in the second half said just stay in the game as much as possible, I felt like the second half we were more on the front foot trying to get pressure on them.
"The damage was done first half obviously, a quality nation, we know where they're ranked in the world but ultimately the first half is the reason why we lost the game today.”
Ogbene admitted he ought to have done better with a rebound opportunity just prior to Declan Rice giving England the lead, Jordan Pickford having saved from fellow Town forward Sammie Szmodics.
"I should have gone first time,” he reflected. "Something the manager said, I wanted a perfect shot, set it up right, but sometimes you have to trust the effort and put my foot through it.
"We had some moments, but just maybe the final ball to end could have helped us in the game.
"We live and we learn against a great nation like this. We have to look to Tuesday against the likes of Greece, these will be our battles, the likes of Greece and Finland.
"With the support that we had to today, [we have to] come out and give it our all and hopefully get some results.”