Southampton defender Jose Fonte has apologised to the club's supporters for the shock 1-0 defeat to League One outfit Sheffield United on Tuesday.
Mark McNulty struck the only goal of the game as the Blades qualified for the semi-final of the Capital One Cup at the expense of their top-flight counterparts.
Some 4,000 Saints fans made the 200-mile trip to Sheffield, and Fonte is sorry for the 'unacceptable' result that ended their chances of achieving "something special".
"It was not acceptable," he told the club's official website. "I would firstly like to apologise to the fans, they didn't deserve this. That is not us.
"Give the last games we've lost, we played and we showed that we are better than the opposition and we had the opportunities to win and deserved more from them games.
"But tonight, I'm disappointed obviously and I'm angry because we had a great opportunity to go and do something special and we just blew it."
The result represented Southampton's fifth successive defeat in all competitions, with manager Ronald Koeman refusing to shake hands with opposition manager Nigel Clough at full time.
Shane Callaghan
