Stoke boss Tony Pulis was beaten but not bowed after seeing his side lose their unbeaten record in the Europa League and finish in second place in Group E with a 3-1 defeat by Besiktas in Istanbul.
The Potters went into Wednesday's match already certain of qualification and knowing a draw would be enough to keep them in top spot, but the result ensured it was Besiktas who won the group.
However, Pulis was not too downhearted, saying: "It was a really good performance. The first quarter of an hour we were a little bit on the back foot, we looked like a team who hadn't played together for a while, then unfortunately Andy (Wilkinson) had to go off, he felt his back again."
He added: "Then the goal went in and we looked very comfortable. For all their possession in the first half, we had the three best chances with the goal, the one that Cameron (Jerome) had when he was played through and when Ric hit the post.
"We've gone down with a bit of glory."
It was undeniably a disappointing result after a run of seven wins and two draws from their first nine games in the competition, and failing to top the group means Stoke are likely to get a tougher tie in the last 32 when the draw is made on Friday.
The visitors took the lead completely against the run of play through Ricardo Fuller in the 29th minute.
The hosts had piled on the pressure from the start, though, and the game turned when Matthew Upson was shown a red card for bringing down Hugo Almeida in the box and Manuel Fernandes netted a 59th-minute penalty.
With a man advantage and the raucous Inonu Stadium crowd in full voice, it seemed only a matter of time before Besiktas took the lead, and the second goal came in the 74th minute from Mustafa Pektemek before fellow substitute Edu added some gloss to the scoreline eight minutes later.
Pulis, though, was in no mood to dwell on negatives, adding: "We've finished above Kiev and we've given Besiktas two very good games, especially when it was 11 against 11. Every one of the players who played has done absolutely fantastic for us and even when we went down to 10 men they just kept working and kept going."