"We created some great chances, which was a positive to take from the game," he told the official site. "I don't think there are many teams who will go to the Emirates and give them a game like we did.
"It didn't quite happen for us in the final third, but to come to the Emirates and play like that against a very good Arsenal side is a massive positive. Despite losing the game, if you play as well as that then nine times out of 10 you are going to win football matches.
"That's the positive we take from the tie - the performance. We were bitterly disappointed to be knocked out of the cup and I'm sure the fans travelled home very disappointed.
"But our performance level against a good Arsenal team holds us in good stead for the challenges ahead. Our league form was very good before the cup game and we've got to get back to that. We've got 12 big league games to go and there is everything still to play for this season.
"It's one of those defeats where you can't really analyse what went wrong from our point of view. We were very unfortunate to get knocked out of the cup like that but now we have to move on from that."