MANAGER Daniel Farke felt Leeds were not the “worse side” in their Championship playoff final defeat to Southampton on Sunday.

Adam Armstrong scored what proved to be the winning goal in a first half which saw both sides have chances.

Leeds came mightily close to an equaliser through substitute Dan James, who cracked the crossbar and was denied by Alex McCarthy.

Defeat for Leeds consigned them to more playoff heartache, this was their sixth consecutive time missing out on promotion.

The German coach was happy to congratulate Saints on their return to the Premier League while admitting it was not Leeds’ day.

A disappointed Farke said: “Yes, as you can imagine it couldn’t be worse. Obviously, we’re suffering a lot in this moment.

"I can’t really say we are the worst side in this final and to lose this final hurts a lot.

“We are very disappointed, but I also don’t want to miss (a chance) to say first of all congratulations to Southampton. They defended really, really well and were pretty effective.”

He added: “That’s football. We had more possession, more shorts, more expected goals. We dominated in many spells but they defended really well. They were more effective than us.

“It’s always important to be good in both boxes. We started the game on the front foot and had many good situations.

“In the final third, we were not fully committed to the attack. We were not over-precise with the pass.

“At this level, you always have to be spot on. We tried everything in the second half. Dan James (hits) the ball against the crossbar.

“It was a bit written in the stars. Sometimes it’s not meant to be. The lads are so disappointed.

“You have to get out of this. You have to rest and take this disappointment as your motivation for next season.”