West Ham United No2 Neil McDonald says the players can be proud of their performance at Manchester City.

Andy Carroll was rewarded for another good all-round performance with a last-gasp goal, but it was not quite enough to avert a 2-1 Barclays Premier League defeat.

"It was a narrow defeat," McDonald told whufc.com. "We were really disappointed with our possession in the first half but I thought we can out in the second half, with instructions from the manager, and played how we wanted to play.

"We really dominated the first 15 minutes of the second half and gave ourselves an opportunity to get back into it. We created chances and then Toure went and popped it into the top corner from 25 yards.

"All credit to the boys because they kept the ball a lot better in the second half and moved it on a bit more and got it into the box. We got crosses into the box and did it well in the second half.

"They went right to the final whistle and we got our just rewards, really. We're slightly disappointed that we lost the game, but there were a few positives, particularly that the second half was a lot better than the first half was."