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Cape Town - Slaven Bilic was left massively disappointed following West Ham's Europa League play-off round exit at the hands of Astra Giurgiu at the London Stadium on Thursday night.
The Hammers had held the Romanian side to a 1-1 draw in the first leg on the road last week but were undone by a Filipe Teixeira goal on the stroke of half-time to suffer a 1-0 defeat in the deciding tie.
It is now the second year in a row that Astra have blocked West Ham's route to European competition.
An angry and frustrated Bilic told reporters after the match: "We said before that this was one of most important games for us this year. It was like a final that we had to win to go through, so the disappointment is massive.
"I'm angry and frustrated, but I'm also disappointed because we really wanted to go through. That's why we tried so hard last season, to get this opportunity.
"We wanted to play in Europe, we came so close and we wanted to have that experience as a club, a club that is not often in Europe."
West Ham had started the evening on a positive note with the announcement of the signing of FC Sion Edimilson Fernandes while Bilic admitted a deal for Juventus striker Simone Zaza is close to being completed.
He said: "I don't know the details, but we were in talks and it was quite close. I would love it to happen."
