West Ham boss David Moyes admits they lacked aggression for their 1-1 draw at Europa Conference League opponents KAA Gent.
Danny Ings had West Ham ahead in the quarterfinal first-leg before Hugo Cuypers' equaliser.
Moyes said, "Gent were more competitive tonight than we were.
"They won too many first and second balls and then when we had the chances to play, we didn't play well enough on the ball.
"But overall, look, would I have taken a draw? All day long, because this is a side who have some momentum, they were seven unbeaten coming into the game, so it was never going to be easy.
"You know what it's like in cup competitions, it's not the favourites who always make it.
"You have to work really hard to do so and in the end I was pleased to get a draw.
"We had a lot of decisions tonight which didn't go in our favour which could certainly have changed the game, but hopefully the home tie, with the crowd behind us, we'll have a chance.
"I'm pleased to score at that time [just before half-time] because we had a goal chalked off just before.
"To get the goal, and I have to be honest, we didn't play well enough to make [enough of] those opportunities, so getting that goal gave us something to hang on to. Danny Ings is very much a penalty box striker and he proved it tonight.
"I thought we defended okay, [but we had to] keep it and find a way of getting a second goal."