Blackpool defender Alex Baptiste has launched an astonishing tirade against West Ham United after his team were beaten by Sam Allardyce's team at Wembley.
The defender - who went close to scoring himself in the second half only to see his effort cleared off the line by Matt Taylor - told BBC Radio Lancashire after the game that Blackpool's defeat was "embarrassing" - whilst insisting that the Hammers played long-ball football throughout (clearly ignoring the fact that the Seasiders' only goal of the game came from a direct aerial punt forward)."I'm devastated," he said. "You've seen that game, we were the better said. It was embarrassing at times. They just hoof it long at times hoping for the best.
"It's a foul on me for the second goal, definitely. The ref's done us no favours but i suppose everyone got what they wanted, because everyone wanted West Ham to win, a team from London and that.
"Congratulations to them, they won the game but I know who I'd rather play for. I wouldn't survive in that team, I'm not tall enough. It's embarrassing, all of them are eight foot [tall].
"I think this is worse [than being relegated last season] because we don't deserve that. We've battered them on the day and we were miles better, by far the better side.
"We're going to drown our sorrows tonight because the better team lost today."
Baptiste's display of sour grapes was in stark contrast to the response from Tangerines manager Ian Holloway, who was graceful in defeat - as always. Wishing West Ham well for next season, the former Bristol City boss said: "Well done to West Ham. It looked like it was going to extra time and I was very pleased with our performance.
"We'll be rueing the day that we missed a couple of chances but that's life. So good luck to them. We've got some fantastic players and I'd have loved for them to ply their trade in the top flight but unfortunately West Ham pipped us to it.
"All you can say is 'well done' to them. That's 2-1 instead of 4-0 and 4-1 [like earlier in the season] so we've improved again - but not quite enough."
West Ham's "eight foot giants"
Carlton Cole 6'3"
Guy Demel 6'3"
Robert Green 6'3"
James Tomkins 6'3"
Winston Reid 6'3"
Ricardo Vaz Te 6'2"
And then there's...
Jack Collison 6'0"
Julien Faubert 5'11"
George McCartney 6'0"
Mark Noble 5'11"
Kevin Nolan 6'0"
Gary O'Neil 5'10"
Matthew Taylor 5'10"
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